Republicans Aim To Crack Down On New York's Sex Offenders

Embattled Senate Republicans in Albany are embarking on a renewed crusade against sex offenders.

Republicans are organizing what one lawmaker billed, rather awkwardly, as "child sex week," to rally behind proposed legislation that would, among other things, increase penalties for producing child pornography, toughen punishments for people who open their premises to child prostitution, and provide additional wiretap authorization for certain child prostitution and pornography cases.

"In a week or so, we'll probably have something — I hate to call it a 'child sex week.' It sounds terrible, but by that, I mean we're going to do bills to protect children and pass them and send them to the Assembly," the prime sponsor of the legislation, Senator Dale Volker, said at a press conference yesterday.

In Albany, criminal justice is a key policy area where Senate Republicans, who have in recent years have co-opted many liberal issues, have tried to distinguish themselves from Assembly Democrats, whom they paint as weak on crime.

Last year, Senate Republicans took aim at Democrats, including Governor Spitzer, for not passing legislation reinstating the state death penalty for murderers of police officers.

Republicans are highlighting their record on cracking down on sex offenders as they seek to sharpen their agenda after a string of election losses that have reduced their majority over Democrats to one seat.

"The thing we have to realize is kids' lives are at stake and their futures," Mr. Volker said. "This is a time where we all have to forget politics. We have to think of really governing … and this is what governing is about."

He said Republican efforts to pass bills to further protect children from sex offenders have been stymied by criminal defense associations that have lobbied against the legislation.

Along with passing the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention Act of 2008, Senate Republicans say they are planning to block two provisions in Mr. Spitzer's budget that they say pose a risk to children' safety.

Mr. Spitzer proposed redeploying about 100 state troopers currently assigned as school patrols to local police departments in high-crime areas, including Rochester and Buffalo, to help those cities bring down their crime rates.

Republicans say the so-called School Resource Officers, who function as both guidance counselors and security officers at schools on a rotating basis, protect children by confiscating weapons, making arrests, and helping to deter school shootings. Republicans said the officers intervened to prevent more than 170 potential suicides and thwarted at least one planned attack at a public school.

Lawmakers say they will also restore $425,000 in funding for a state education office that conducts background checks for employees working at schools.

A spokesman for Mr. Volker said Assembly Democrats have yet to agree to introduce the sex offender legislation.