Dix Hills, NY - August 3, 2015 - On Thursday, July 30th, Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker joined Parents for Megan’s Law, elected officials and community residents at the Rolling Hill Elementary School in Dix Hills to advocate for stronger sex offender laws. The event was in response to the New York State Court of Appeals recent decision to remove all county sex offender residency restrictions, which leaves vulnerable populations including sex crime victims and children at risk.
The state law ruling restricts Suffolk County’s more stringent sex offender laws mandating a sex offenders can not reside within a quarter mile of public or private schools, day care centers, playgrounds, or the residence of their victims. With the restriction lifted by the NYS Court of Appeals, a Level 3 Wyoming sex offender was able to move into a home only three doors away from Rolling Hills Elementary School. Similarly, all other registrants are able to live near schools anywhere in the state.
In addition, beginning January 1, 2016, registration for thousands of Level 1 sex offenders will end and their names will be removed from the sex offender registry.
“I stand with Parents for Megan’s Law and our local communities to do what is obviously necessary to keep our children safe,” said Legislator Anker. “Prior to the ruling, Suffolk County, working with Parents for Megan’s Law, had created this country’s strictest sex offender laws that provide intense oversight and enforcement. It is absolutely unacceptable that a sex offender’s residency right has a higher priority than our children’s safety.”
Megan’s Law requires law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders. Individual states decide what information will be made available and how it should be distributed. Parents for Megan’s Law and the Crime Victims Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse and rape, the provision of services to victims of violent crime, and elderly, disabled and minor victims of all crime. For more information please visit www.parentsformeganslaw.org.