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Senator Bruno stressed the importance of implementing legislation to help protect children at a Capitol news conference. |
Announces Task Force on Children's Health & Safety
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
The New York State Senate today passed a package of legislation to combat child sex crimes, including an across-the-board increase in criminal penalties; and making it easier for law enforcement to prosecute offenders who prey on children over the Internet. The Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Act of 2004 amends more than 40 laws to protect children from sexual predators and is based on recommendations contained in a Senate report issued last year entitled: Child Pornography, Prostitution and Predators: Has the Internet Placed Our Children At Risk?
Earlier today, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno today announced the formation of a new Senate Majority Task Force on Children�s Health and Safety to expand and build on the Senate�s efforts to strengthen New York�s child protection laws. The panel will hold a series of public hearings to examine the state�s existing child protection system, identify threats that jeopardize a child�s health and safety and make recommendations that focus on what can be done to better protect children and make them less vulnerable. The new task force will be co-chaired by Senator Mary Lou Rath (R-C, Williamsville) and Senator Nicholas Spano (R-C, Westchester).
The bills passed today by the Senate would:
ENSURE APPROPRIATE SENTENCES FOR CHILD SEXUAL ABUSERS AND INTERNET PREDATORS
A number of recent cases whereby adult men have used the Internet to coerce teens into meetings have made parents concerned about the safety of their children using the Internet. More than 24 million youths use the Internet every year and 20% of children who use the Internet say they have been approached by a stranger for sex.
The Senate passed legislation that would expand state laws to target Internet pedophiles. 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.
According to law enforcement authorities, child pornography has exploded worldwide since the invention of the Internet and has been difficult to contain because of the ease with which it can be produced and distributed. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that more than 1 million children have been abused by child pornographers in the United States. In 2000, the FBI was managing nearly 3,000 cases of online child pornography, with about 25% of those cases dealing with online predators.
New York State law enforcement investigators have obtained hundreds of thousands of child pornography images in recent years, including infants being sexually abused. It is estimated that child pornography is a $2 billion to $3 billion a year business.
"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."
Legislation (S.5280) passed by the Senate, and sponsored by Senator Balboni, includes provisions that would:
"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
The Senate also passed legislation (S.5278), sponsored by Senator Nicholas Spano (R-C, Westchester), that 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.
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 most abhorrent sex crimes imaginable are those committed against children," Senator Spano 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."
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.
Recent legislation has added some new offenses for child sexual abuse and has mandated longer prison terms for repeat offenders, but has left intact weak penalties for common crimes against children (e.g., 2nd degree rape, child prostitution) and first time offenders. Senate legislation passed today elevates the penalties for sex crimes against children, including crimes related to child pornography and prostitution, across the board to keep child sexual predators off the streets. The Senate legislation passed today would update and strengthen those laws.
INCREASE PENALTIES FOR CHILD PROSTITUTION OFFENSES
"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."
The Senate also passed legislation (S.5279), sponsored by Senator Golden, 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.
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 today 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 promoting or using sexual performances by a child and provides for consecutive sentencing upon certain multiple convictions.
S.3183 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.
The Senate will also act next week on legislation (S.1021), sponsored by Senator Dean Skelos (R-C, Rockville Center), that would extend the statute of limitations to prosecute sex crimes against children from five years to 15 years, after the victim has reached age 18.
"Everyday, there are sex offenders rejoicing that they 'escaped' prosecution for the horrific crimes they committed against children," said Senator Skelos. "The damage they inflict lasts a lifetime and it is unconscionable to limit their accountability to a five-year statute of limitations. With new DNA technology, there is absolutely no reason that these predators should benefit from this outdated and arbitrary period. As repeatedly recognized by the Senate, this legislation is a positive first step that will help remove this impervious barrier to justice."
The bills were sent to the Assembly.
In addition to Senators Rath and Spano, the Executive Committee of the Task Force on Children�s Health and Safety announced by Senator Bruno today includes: Senators Joseph Robach (R-C, Rochester), Pat McGee (R-C, Franklinville), Martin Golden (R-C, Brooklyn), Carl Marcellino (R-C, Syosset) and Kemp Hannon (R-C, Garden City). All members of the Senate Majority Conference will serve on the Task Force and all members of the Senate will be invited to participate.
"Ensuring the health and well-being of our children is one of our most important responsibilities," said Senator Bruno. "If we can do a better job of protecting our children from harm and providing caregivers with better resources and training, we can prevent a great deal of the child abuse and neglect cases that wind up in our courts. The Senate is already acting on bills to strengthen penalties for criminals who prey on children, this task force will focus on prevention and will work quickly to make its recommendations so we can act on them this session."
"By focusing on child health and safety, this task force will be examining what can be done to get out in front and prevent or deter potentially threatening situations that often result in harmful abuse and neglect to vulnerable children," Senator Spano said. "Our panel will hold public hearings across the state to gather expert opinions, suggestions and input and we will make recommendations to better protect children from becoming victims. The recommendations will augment the tough penalty bills we are acting on today that put appropriate punishments in place for criminals who prey on children."
"It is critical that we reexamine the systems that are designed to protect our children as we know the systems are not perfect," Senator Rath said. "We need to do everything we can to prevent children from potential harm and this Task Force will provide an opportunity to review and improve our laws and regulations and provide parents and caregivers with as much information and helpful resources as possible."
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