Senate Bill S8112

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S8112

SPONSOR: LANZA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to sex offenses against a
child or children

This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of
the Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of his Advisory
Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure.

This measure would amend the Penal Law to address the conduct of pedo-
philes who direct children to commit sexual acts on themselves or each
other.

Several recent cases have made it plain that the Penal Law does not
adequately address certain sex crimes involving children. Although pedo-
philes often directly engage in sexual conduct with children, at times
they exploit children by directing a child or children to perform some
type of sexual act upon themselves or each other for the pedophile's
sexual gratification or some other clearly wrongful purpose. Directing a
child or children to perform sexual acts does not necessarily come with-
              

in Penal Law Article 263, sexual performance by a child, because often
there is no audience except the defendant and the acts are rarely
recorded. Presently, the only crime that applies to such conduct is
endangering the welfare of a child - a class A misdemeanor, which our
Advisory Committee believes is inadequate to protect the public.

This measure creates a new offense against pedophiles who exploit chil-
dren by directing them to perform an act or acts of sexual conduct upon
themselves or each other. To be convicted of the offense, the person
must direct children under the age of thirteen to engage in sexual
conduct for the purpose of degrading or abusing the child or children,
or for the purpose of gratifying the actor's sexual desire or for mone-
tary gain. Moreover, recognizing the wide variety of sexual conduct that
a pedophile may direct a child or children to engage in, the level of
seriousness of the offense would be determined by the level of offense
that the pedophile would have committed had he or she personally engaged
in the acts he or she directed the child or children to engage in.

This measure, which would have no meaningful impact on the State, would
take effect on the first day of November next succeeding the date on
which it shall have become law.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None. New proposal.