Requires registration as a sex offender

BILL NUMBER:S3206

Title of bill

An act to amend the penal law and the correction law, in relation to endangering the welfare of a child

Purpose or general idea of bill

This bill would create a sex offense provision in the endangering the welfare of a child statute and require a convicted offender to register on the Sex Offender Registry.

Summary of specific provisions

Section one of the bill amends §260.10 of the Penal Law to create a sex offense provision requiring any defendant convicted for endangering the welfare of a child where there is a sexual element to the crime to register as a sex offender.

Section two amends subdivision 2 of § 168-a of the Correction Law to define as a sex offense a conviction pursuant to § 260.10 of the Penal Law where there is a sexual element to the crime thereby requiring the defendant to register as a sex offender.

Justification

Currently, the crime of endangering the welfare of a child applies to a wide variety of acts. These acts can range from leaving a young child in a car unattended to exposing a child to drug use to extreme tortures short of homicide. However, the conduct charged under this section often has a sexual component as well. See for example, People v. Ahlers, 1983,98 AD2d 821,470 NYS2d 483 (asking a male child to place his private parts in the privates of a female child, which the child attempted to do in the presence of the defendant); People v. Keindl, 1986,68 NY2d 410,509 NYS2d 790 (continuous pattern of sexual behavior toward children over a two-year period): People v. Morley, 1996, 224 AD2d 730,637 NYS2d 500 (child exposed to pornography and defendant's own sex acts); and People v. Dunavin, 1991, 173 AD2d 1032,570 NYS2d 369 (child shown explicit films, touched by defendant and photographed by defendant in her underwear). But defendants convicted for endangering the welfare of a child who commit acts as described above are not required to register on the Sex Offender Registry. These acts are no different than many of the crimes which require an offender to register, however because of this gap in the law many sex offenders elude the important safeguards for society as a result of the sex Offender Registry.

This legislation attempts to close that gap by requiring any defendant convicted of endangering the welfare of a child, where there is conduct of a sexual nature or sexual behavior involved to register under New York's Sex Offender Registry.

Prior legislative history

2004: Passed Senate/Assembly Codes Cmte. 2005-06: Passed Senate/Assembly Codes Cmte. 2007-08: Passed Senate/Assembly Codes Cmte. 2009-1O: Senate Codes Cmte./Assembly Codes Cmte.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.