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Senator Bruno holds the Senate report while announcing the legislation at a Capitol news conference last month. |
Bills Would Increase Penalties; Target Internet Predators
Thursday, June 12, 2003
The New York State Senate today passed the most comprehensive package of legislation in the country to combat child sex crimes, including an across-the-board increase in criminal penalties; making it easier for law enforcement to prosecute offenders who prey on children over the Internet; and coordinating health and safety education efforts to increase public awareness and prevention of child sex abuse.
"This legislative package will make New York one of the toughest states in the nation for child predators and sexual abusers, going beyond simply criminalizing the use of the Internet for committing acts of abuse and exploitation against children," Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno said. "We must make our laws even stronger to help law enforcement prosecute and properly punish sexual predators who prey on innocent, vulnerable children, especially predators who use the Internet to victimize children."
The Senate�s Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Act of 2003 is based on recommendations contained in a 48 page report entitled: Child Pornography, Prostitution and Predators: Has the Internet Placed Our Children At Risk? As a result of this research and extensive dialogue with law enforcement, the Senate will amend more than 40 laws to protect children from sexual predators.
The bills approved by the Senate today include legislation that would:
EXPAND LAWS TO TARGET INTERNET PEDOPHILES (S.5280, Sen. Balboni)
"It is offensive that people who want to hurt children are using new technology and taking advantage of outdated laws to help them accomplish their abuse," Senator Michael Balboni (R-C, Mineola), said. "These problems all stem from the ability of the computer user to infiltrate many places that were in the past off limits to those with malicious intent. Basically, the Internet has become the pedophiles playground."
The bill would expand the existing offenses of promoting and possessing obscene and sexual performances by a child. Under current law, a person is prosecuted for the same charge whether they possess one obscene image or one thousand. This bill increases penalties for those who possess or promote numerous obscene and sexual performances by a child.
In addition the bill would:
* Enhance penalties for those who disseminate or exhibit pornographic images to a child;
* Permit prosecution of these offenders through use of undercover "sting" operations where police pose as a minor. Current law says it is only a crime to solicit a minor. This bill would expand the definition to apply to someone the online predator thinks is a minor. This will ensure stronger prosecution of online sex offenders caught through sting operations; and
* Amend the Civil Rights Law to permit child victims of these offenses to have their identities remain confidential.
Pedophilia web sites and bulletin boards are allowing child predators to reaffirm their views that adult-child sex is not wrong or immoral. In addition, these sites are allowing sexual predators to network, thus sharing child pornography and even information about specific children.
* About 24 million youths were regularly online in 1999, with millions more expected in the near future.
* 1 in 5 children who go online regularly are approached by a stranger for sex.
* More than 200,000 images of children, including babies being sexually abused, were collected by New York State investigators from the Internet in 1997.
The Senate also approved a bill (S.2945), sponsored by Senator Dale Volker (R-C-I, Depew), that would allow the admission of business records, such as information related to the owner of an Internet account, into evidence in grand jury proceedings by way of a sworn affidavit instead of live testimony.
"Throughout New York State, when it comes to sexual predators preying on our young people, numerous Internet child pornography and child lurer cases have been endangered or dismissed due to the inability of prosecutors to obtain witnesses due to the extreme expense of flying them in to give testimony that linked the defendant to his e-mail account," Senator Volker said. "Knowing this, defendants persistently use the knowledge that out-of-state witnesses are difficult and expensive to obtain to secure speedy trial dismissals, and thus guilty predators are allowed to remain free. This scenario is unacceptable and this legislation will finally put an end to this currently legal loophole in our state's criminal statutes."
INCREASE PENALTIES FOR SEX OFFENSES (S.5278 Sen. Spano)
This legislation raises by one level, the current penalties prescribed for rape second and third degree, sodomy second and third degree, forcible touching, persistent sexual abuse, sexual abuse first, second and third degree, course of sexual conduct against a child second degree and facilitating a sex offense with a controlled substance.
"The most abhorrent sex crimes imaginable are those committed against children," Sen. Nicholas Spano (R-C, Westchester) said. "My legislation will help to ensure that those who perpetrate these horrific crimes are punished to the fullest extent of the law, and remain on the Sex Offender Registry for the maximum amount of time."
In addition, the bill designates as violent felony offenses any sex offense involving a child victim thereby assuring persons convicted of these offenses will be sentenced to prison, and that they will serve a determinate term of imprisonment rather then an indeterminate term of imprisonment. This will guarantee that child sex offenders serve longer sentences in prison.
The bill also modifies provisions of the Sexual Offender Registration Act to require that persons convicted of sex offenses against children shall be deemed to have committed a sexually violent offense requiring lifetime registration, rather than the current 10 year registration.
These bills were sent to the Assembly.
INCREASE PENALTIES FOR Child Prostitution (S.5279 Sen. Golden)
In addition, the Senate will act tomorrow on legislation that would increase current penalties for patronizing child prostitutes, increase the penalty for the current offense of permitting prostitution and establish a new class E felony for permitting prostitution involving children. This bill would also guarantee that people convicted of a child prostitution offense must serve a longer, determinate sentence and have a lifetime listing on the sex offender registry.
"Child prostitution may be the most overlooked form of child abuse in the United States and the Internet has only exacerbated the problem," Senator Martin Golden (R-C, Brooklyn) said. "New York�s prostitution laws were enacted in the mid-1960s and have not been amended since. We should update them to reflect the impact of new technology and the dangerous environment children face today."
It is estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 children are sexually exploited annually through prostitution and pornography in the United States. According to the New York State Police computer crime unit, the Internet is being used to advertise child prostitutes to potential customers.
These youths are often sexually exploited by adults who encourage or force them into prostitution. An alarming trend is that girls in prostitution are increasingly younger today, with the average age having dropped from 14 to 12 years old. This alone makes it more a child sexual abuse problem than simply a prostitution issue, since these children are not making these decisions alone and are often preyed upon by child pornographers and pedophiles.
In addition to this package of legislation, the Senate has already passed the following legislation related to fighting child sexual abuse:
S.550 Sen. Dean Skelos - Makes provisions with respect to sexual assault against a child by a person in a position of trust.
S.512-A, Sen. Michael Balboni - Increases the penalties for sexual performances by a child and provides for consecutive sentencing upon certain multiple convictions.
S.3123 Sen. Guy Velella - Requires the district attorney to notify the local child protective agency upon the conviction of any person at least 18 years of age for a crime against a child under the age of sixteen.
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