Sex offender registry to grow by 8,555

By early July, over 8,000 moderate-level sex offenders will be added to the New York State Sex Offender Registry, according to a spokesperson for Governor George Pataki, who signed the bill into law.
&#8220The 800 number has already been activated with the changes, and it is expected to take 10 days to add all the information online,” said Molly Fullington from the Governor’s office.
In a last minute deal before the legislative session ended for the year, the New York State Assembly passed a bill that added Level 2 – moderate-risk level – registered sex offenders to the state online registry. The bill also included a provision allowing the police to tell &#8220neighbors” about the whereabouts of Level 1 sex offenders – the lowest risk level offenders.
According Laura Ahern, director of Parents for Megan’s Law, a New-York based group dedicated to gaining public access to sex offender information, the new law will allow thousands of parents to view pertinent information about 8,555 sex offenders – including name, alias, home and work addresses and photos. In addition, Ahern expects notifications of Level 1 sex offenders to be sent to her organization, which will then post it online and email community members in Long Island and in New York City.
&#8220We will start seeing the email program up and running by the end of the year for the five boroughs,” she said. &#8220This year was a landslide legislative year for crime victim advocates, for lawmakers, and those in the criminal justice system, probably more than in the 10 years I’ve been doing this.”
In the past year, state legislators have massively expanded the DNA databank – adding all convicted felons and 17 types of misdemeanor criminals – eliminated the statute of limitations for rapes, and passed Jessica’s law, which drastically ups the sentence time for convicted sex offenders.
&#8220It’s a tremendous victory,” Ahern said of the most recent law signed by Gov. Pataki on Friday, June 23. &#8220The community will be given more tools to protect themselves from people that are known to be a risk.”
However, the state lawmakers still have a ways to go in giving parents the complete toolbox to protect their children, Ahern said. The registry does not include offenders who committed their crime prior to January 1996, or were classified into a risk level before January 1, 2000.
&#8220We would support any legislation that would work retroactively,” Ahern said. But she said that opposition to this idea in New York is so fierce that she does not expect any sort of legislation to be passed to add these sex offenders.
See the sex offender registry online at https://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/nsor/index.htm. To find out if someone is on the list, call 1-800-262-3257 with the person’s name and one other piece of information: the street address, driver’s license number, social security number, or birth date.