Senator Dale M. Volker Announces Enactment Of Sex Offender Legislation To Keep Tabs On Sexual Predators

(DEPEW, N.Y.) – Senator Dale M. Volker today announced that the New York State Legislature passed legislation, to mandate lifetime registration for the most dangerous sex offenders and prevent sex offenders from coming off the registry this week. Agreement on this bill was announced yesterday by the joint legislative conference committee on the sex offender registry created by Megan’s Law. The Governor has signed this bill into law and it becomes effective immediately.

"This new law is an enormous achievement and will continue to allow our families the option of knowing if a sex offender is residing in their neighborhood, school district, Town or Village," said Senator Dale M. Volker. "Empowering our residents, by giving them the ability to take the necessary precautions to protect their families and loved ones from sexual predators, is absolutely the right thing to do in order to limit their exposure to these individuals. This new law, which brought together the State Senate, State Assembly and the Governor’s office, is a significant milestone in our continued fight against sexual predators."

The new law mandates lifetime registration for level two and level three offenders. Level two offenders will be allowed to petition for removal from the registry after a minimum of thirty years. Level one offenders will be required to register for twenty years, and will automatically drop off the registry after twenty years.

Prior to this new law, most sex offenders are only required to register for ten years. On January 21, 2006, the 10th anniversary of the effective date of New York State’s sex offender registry, 168 sex offenders were scheduled to be dropped from the registry because they have met the 10-year mandate to keep police posted of their whereabouts. Hundreds more were scheduled to drop off the sex offender registry each month thereafter, totaling over 3,500 offenders by the end of 2006.

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