By Liz McBreen
If the proposed bill passes, predators such as Schaeffer could spend up to seven years in prison.
The bill, announced on Feb. 27 at Dutch Broadway Elementary School, will go after sex offenders who use Internet chat rooms and instant messaging services to lure young people to their homes or isolated areas to sexually abuse them. The bill would create crimes of "luring" and "computer-luring," acts now commonly punishable as misdemeanors, and upgrade them to a felonies.
"We have a duty to keep our children safe," said Alfano. "With this bill we hope to take the first step in identifying cyber-predators and stopping them from hurting our children."
The bill comes on the heels of several cases of cyber-luring across the country, including that of former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter, accused of trying to arrange meetings with minors that he had met on the Internet. Barra said, "The legislation is a community response to a problem that affects families and the very fabric of our neighborhoods."
Barra and Alfano are also proposing that New York state establish an Internet site where convicted pedophiles would be required to sign in before they would be able to gain access to the Internet. When the predator entered a chat room, his or her name would be outlined with a red box. "This will send a clear message that sexual predators will not be tolerated," said Barra.
Alfano stressed the need for this kind of legislation by sharing some statistics. "One in five children between 10 and 17 have received a sexually explicit solicitation over the Internet and one in four have received unwanted pornography," he said. Alfano also said that only about 40 percent of these children report these incidents to their parents. "Parents should talk to their children about this, and be aware of these predators," he said. "We have to increase the number of people who report these incidents."
New York City Police Officer and Dutch Broadway parent Erica Dangerfield said that the bill was long overdue. "Kids are vulnerable, and they are learning at a much younger age than in the past. We need to deter these predators before they strike."
