By Anthony Rifilato
Specifically, the proposed law, which was approved by the Public Safety Committee last week, would prohibit any registered level 1, 2 or 3 sex offender from living within 1,000 feet of a school or within 500 feet of a park or playground. The law would not apply to those offenders who have established residency prior to April 15. Its passage requires the approval of the full county Legislature, which will vote on it on April 3.
Legislator Joe Scannell (D-Baldwin), chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said he was confident that Republican legislators would work with the Democratic majority to pass the law. "Everybody wants safer communities," said Scannell. "People have been overwhelmingly supportive [of the proposed law]. I'm confident that it will pass 19 to nothing on April 3."
The proposal was announced last October, after a registered sex offender was found to be living next door to the Harry Daniels School in Roosevelt. The discovery prompted Legislator Kevan Abrahams (D-Hempstead) to call for tougher penalties against sex offenders. "This law will ensure that the county's vulnerable children are not victimized by repeat sex offenders," said Abrahams, who sponsored the law. "Up until now, registered sex offenders could be released from jail and move right next to a school or park, even if their original crime was committed at a similar site."
Scannell said that the law would strengthen Megan's Law, which he and others felt needed additional restrictions on where sex offenders can live. "We saw some gaps in Megan's law," said Scannell. "Mainly, it didn't address schools and parks. We needed to do everything we could to close that gap up. This law will serve as an excellent companion to Megan's Law."
While barring sex offenders from moving into all areas of a community is illegal, Scannell explained, the goal of many local laws is to restrict an offender's ability to live in, and move through, a town. In Baldwin, Scannell said that he has heard from a number of parents who expressed concern after it was announced that a sex offender was living in the community late last year.
"Residency restriction laws are a natural extension of Megan's Law," said Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's Law. "While these laws won't eliminate child sexual abuse, they will certainly reduce the potential for sexual victimization by restricting a sex offender's access to possible child victims."
Scannell explained that recent laws that placed broad residency restrictions on sex offenders in Iowa and in upstate Binghamton paved the way for the Nassau County measure.
"The law has to be fair and constitutional, and we felt that this was fair," Scannell said.
The new measure would give a registered sex offender 60 days to relocate if residency is established too close to a school or park after April 15. A violation would be a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail.
Some civil libertarians have questioned the law's viability, saying that the legislation offers a false sense of comfort. But Scannell said he feels the law will make a difference. "It definitely can make a difference by preventing a crime from happening," he said.
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