BILL NUMBER:A9365
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the correction law, in relation to
making the subdirectory of sexually violent predators free of charge and
searchable with anonymity
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To allow the public to search the
internet subdirectory without having to provide a name and address or
pay a fee.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: The bill amends subdivision 1 of
168-q of the Correction Law to allow the Division of Criminal Justice
Services' website to be searched free of charge and with anonymity.
JUSTIFICATION: Residents wanting information on high-risk sex offenders
are confronted with an accessibility barrier when logging onto the state
internet subdirectory. They are required to provide their name and
address before accessing the database.
New York State is the only state in the nation that requires users
provide their name and address before searching the Internet registry.
This creates a barrier to freely accessing the information and prevents
the public from freely searching the database.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
9365
I N A S S E M B L Y
(PREFILED)
January 6, 2010
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GABRYSZAK, GUNTHER, P. RIVERA, PHEFFER -- Multi-
Sponsored by -- M. of A. HYER-SPENCER, JOHN, KOON, MOLINARO, SCHROEDER
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Correction
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to making the subdirec-
tory of sexually violent predators free of charge and searchable with
anonymity
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 168-q of the correction law, as
amended by chapter 478 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as
follows:
1. The division shall maintain a subdirectory of level two and three
sex offenders. The subdirectory shall include the exact address, address
of the offender's place of employment and photograph of the sex offender
along with the following information, if available: name, physical
description, age and distinctive markings. Background information
including the sex offender's crime of conviction, modus of operation,
type of victim targeted, the name and address of any institution of
higher education at which the sex offender is enrolled, attends, is
employed or resides and a description of special conditions imposed on
the sex offender shall also be included. The subdirectory shall have sex
offender listings categorized by county and zip code. A copy of the
subdirectory shall annually be distributed to the offices of local
village, town, city, county or state law enforcement agencies for
purposes of public access. The division shall distribute monthly updates
to the offices of local village, town, city, county or state law
enforcement agencies for purposes of public access. [Such departments
shall require that a person in writing provide their name and address
prior to viewing the subdirectory.] Any information identifying the
victim by name, birth date, address or relation to the sex offender
shall be excluded from the subdirectory distributed for purposes of
public access. The subdirectory provided for [herein] IN THIS SUBDIVI-
SION shall be updated monthly to maintain its efficiency and usefulness
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
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