Members of the Assembly Republican Task Force on Sex Crimes Against Children and Women (SAVE-New York) met in Hempstead Town Hall earlier this month to listen to testimony from experts in the fields of child abuse treatment and prevention, as well as advocates for a stronger Megan's Law and other measures to protect children across the state from sexual predators. This was the second forum held across the state, the first was held in Albany.

Assemblyman Mike Spano of Yonkers is chair of the Task Force. He noted at the start of the forum that the goal of the Task Force is to educate its members as to what can be done to prevent sexual predators from harming both women and children in New York State. All the assemblymembers who were on hand at the forum, including Steve Labriola (R-Massapequa), Dave McDonough (R,C,I-Merrick), Maureen O'Connell (R,C-East Williston), James Conte (R,C-Huntington Station) and David Townsend (of Lee), (all of whom are members of the Task Force) as well as Spano, agreed that the primary goal of the hearings was to better educate the members of the Task Force to help them craft solid legislation to further enhance protection for women and children and also be aware of ways to strengthen current laws.

Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray welcomed the task force members to town hall.

"As a former assemblywoman, I know that meaningful legislative initiatives come out of hearings such as this. We need to make sure our laws adequately protect our children. As a former advocate with Suffolk University's Battered Women's Advocacy Project, I am acutely sensitive to the plight of exploited and abused programs. The work of this Task Force will help safeguard children from sexual abuse through the development of stronger legislation," she said. "Perhaps one of the greatest areas of concern is that of the Internet. It is an impressive research tool that opens up vast educational horizons. At the same time, it can present serious dangers for our children. The Internet has been misused by people who have exploited children and issues such as cyberstalking merit serious attention on the part of our governmental leaders."

Assemblyman Dave McDonough said at the forum that legislation currently in place is a good start to combating the issue of child abuse.

"I think most people will agree that Megan's Law is an effective tool in protecting children from sexual predators, and a good first step. That anyone is able to slip through the cracks, though, is evidence we need to do more," he said. "Our task here is mainly education. What we've heard here, we will take across the state and use these hearings to draft new legislation. We want to make clear that this kind of behavior is not acceptable, we will not tolerate it. There are too many people out there that are slipping through this system and consequently we have young ladies and children being victimized and being lured."

Assemblyman Steve Labriola noted that people need to be educated that these crimes can happen anywhere.

"People have a tendency to say, 'It doesn't happen here.' Unfortunately, it does. Keeping that in mind, we need to do everything in our power to ensure that it doesn't happen again," Labriola said. "The purpose of these forums is really for us as legislators to learn from some of the people who deal directly with victims of child abuse [and] prosecutors of sexual offenders. It's time that we do more. We need to stay ahead of the curve. It's our role and job as legislators to fill these gaps as quickly as we can."

The Task Force heard testimony from experts in the field of child abuse during the forum, including Cynthia Scott (executive director of the Coalition on Child Abuse and Neglect), Joanne Gorman (director community services, Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk), Robert Lloyd (executive director, Long Island Citizens for Community Values), Alane Fagin (executive director, Child Abuse Prevention Services) and Joy Watson (deputy district attorney, Nassau County).

During her testimony, Watson praised Megan's Law for affording protection for potential victims of sex offenders and also for putting offenders on notice that they are being watched. At the same time, Watson noted that one significant flaw is that Megan's Law does not apply to Youthful Offender Adjudications where the court permits the defendant to receive a sealed record. She asked Task Force members to take appropriate steps to correct the current legislation so that those who receive a Youthful Offender Adjudication will still be subject to registration requirements under Megan's Law. Watson said that those 20 years of age or younger who commit sexual crimes against children have indicated a clear potential for recidivism and asked the legislators to strengthen the law by making it a requirement that they register under Megan's Law.

Much of the testimony provided at the forum focused on Internet safety and those who testified, as well as Task Force members, agreed was a challenging topic. Fagin, executive director of Child Abuse Prevention Services (CAPS) since its inception in 1982, told Task Force members that a major problem is that parents are not properly educated when it comes to the Internet. She noted that many parents let their children "surf the net" for hours on end and don't see the signs that their children may be involved in something that could be potentially dangerous.

"Many [children who are on the Internet] are meeting people who they think are other children who are actually sex predators," Fagin said. "Parents, as well as children, need to be educated in the topic of Internet safety."

Scott also addressed the challenges of Internet safety, noting that is an area where it is necessary to be innovative and unafraid of taking dramatically unheard of action.

"I see that the Task Force has proposed an Internet Protection Act that would penalize those who disseminate and display sexually explicit material, among other actions, and has created and defined 'cyber stalking,' making it a Class E felony," Scott said. "Like Megan's Law, this too is another good start. But to be truly effective we'll need to take it into the arena of placing restrictions on use of the Internet by sexual predators - possibly 20,000 of them - and deal with the right to freedom of speech. What we can and must do quickly is educate our children about the dangers of the Internet."

Scott added that "just as the Internet email providers industry has begun to collaboratively address the problem of spam and junk mail delivery, it is necessary to press Internet providers to prevent the purveyors of a debased human sexuality from having access to the electronic highway. We need our elected officials to lead us in this action to protect our children and keep them safe."

Task Force members agreed that Internet safety is a major issue and that combating the problem will be a challenge.

"I think it will be very challenging, but somehow we have to use the Internet to maybe attack that - put messages on the Internet to educate children what not to look at and to educate parents what to look out for," McDonough said. "Some children are afraid to tell their parents because they're afraid they'll get in trouble."

Labriola noted that parents should keep a close eye on what their children are doing when they're online.

"I think the computer should be in the family room, it should be accessible to all. We have to, as parents, watch the signs of children who are being secretive, who suddenly turn the computer screen off when you walk into the room - these are sure signs that things are happening that shouldn't be happening. You would not allow your child to talk to strangers in the street yet you allow it with the computer," he said. "It's a real challenge for us as legislators because of the interstate commerce laws and because of freedom of speech, but we have to meet those challenges. Unfortunately we may have to give up some civil liberties or at least bend them so that we can protect children more from these predators."

SAVE-New York plans a total of five public forums across the state in 2003. The next is scheduled to take place in Syracuse next month.