NOW - NEW YORK STATE SUPPORT MEMO
Prohibits Sex Offenders from Obtaining Custody/
Unsupervised Visitation With a Child
A3217 (Eddington) S1687 (Flanagan)
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2009
The National Organization for Women – New York State, Inc. strongly supports bill
A-3217/S-1687 which will prohibit a sex offender from obtaining physical or legal custody of, or unsupervised visitation with, a child. Children of sex offenders are at great risk of abuse. Allowing these parents to obtain custodial rights or access to their children without supervision would be putting these children in a position of threatened well-being and severe harm.
According to the Office of Justice Programs of the United States Department of Justice, sex offenders are about four times more likely than non-sex offenders to be arrested for another sex crime after their discharge from prison. New York State needs to take an active role in preventing further victimization by sexual predators, especially in relation to their own children. Seventy percent of all men in prison for sex crimes were men whose victim was a child. In about half of the child-victim cases, the child was the prisoners’ own son or daughter or other relative. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that forty-three percent of rape victims under the age of 12 reported to police agencies as being victimized by a family member.
Recidivism rates are high among sex offenders, and it is difficult to assess whether or not rehabilitation and treatment have been successful at stopping future offenses. Additionally, a study completed by the Institute for Psychological Therapies suggests that treatment does not prevent sex offenders from committing sexual abuse again. A study conducted by Hanson, Steffy, and Gauthier (1990) on recidivism found that almost half of the total sample of child molesters were reconvicted from anywhere from three to twenty-three years after treatment.
Clearly, sex offenders are at risk of committing sexual crimes, and granting them uninhibited access to their own children would thus be tremendously dangerous and ill-advised. New York State has a responsibility to protect children from sexual abuse and to provide them with safe home environments. The National Organization for Women – New York State, Inc. supports bills A-3217 and S-1687 in order to protect children from sexual abuse in New York State.
Marcia A. Pappas, President
Barbara Kirpatrick, Legislative VP
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