State legislature to vote on sex offender registryTough position to be in, a Democrat in the New York State Assembly (or Senate, for that matter).
BY BRANDON BAIN
STAFF WRITER
January 9, 2006
With 168 convicted sex offenders scheduled to be removed from the state registry in the next few days, lawmakers are at odds on legislation that would keep the offenders under government scrutiny longer.
The state Senate and Assembly will vote today on two laws that would extend the period of time sex offenders remain on the state registry. Supported by Mark Lunsford, whose daughter, Jessica, 9, was murdered in Florida after an abduction by a convicted sex offender, the Republican-controlled Senate will vote for a lifetime registry for most offenders. The Assembly, with a Democratic majority, is expected to support a measure that would extend the registry period at least a year until Congress passes a national registry law.
I'm conflicted on how I feel about this: as a parent, of course, I want all children to be safe. As a libertarian, if a man (since they usually are men) serves his debt to society, I feel extended punishment is unwarranted. A ten-year period of monitoring, a de facto probation, seems pretty reasonable.
What I find amazing about this entire discussion is that this is a liberal-type program that a "mommy-state" would design, that's been co-opted by the law-and-order types as a needed tool of law enforcement. Isn't this precisely the type of program that cries out for privatization?
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