Senator Volker Announces New State Law Against Sex Offenders

(Depew, NY) Senator Dale M. Volker today announced that the New York State Senate, in collaboration with the State Assembly and Governor Pataki, agreed to legislation, which is now law, that will mandate lifetime registration for the most dangerous sex offenders. Agreement on this bill was announced by the joint legislative conference committee on the sex offender registry created by Megan’s Law.

"Our tough new sex offender registration law ensures that the most dangerous sexual predators never escape the Sex Offender Registry and ensures that our residents have the ability to take the necessary precautions to keep their children and loved one safe," said Senator Dale M. Volker. "This is a tremendous victory for our New York State’s children and it is pivotal that we build upon this new law and focus our collective energies to pass civil commitment legislation, mandatory community notification, email notification, GPS tracking of sex offenders and other import measures needed to protect children and families from sexual predators."

The new state 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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