Bill Introduced To Keep Pedophiles Behind Bars Longer
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Convicted pedophiles would be kept behind bars longer under a bill authored by state Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, a Democrat of Queens.
The bill would increase the sentences of first-time pedophiles to 25 years to life from 5 to 25 years, and when the felon is released from prison, it would mandate lifetime usage of an electronic monitoring device such as an ankle bracelet.
“The main thrust of this proposal is to make sure the time they do is just, considering the nature of their crime,” Mr. Gianaris said. The law would apply in cases of sodomy, rape, and sexual abuse in which the victim was under 12, or 14 if the suspect was at least 21years old.
“Right now the punishment does not fit the crime,” Mr. Gianaris said, particularly because sex offenders are believed to have the highest rate of recidivism of all criminals.
The impetus for the legislation was a recent rape case in Queens as well as a series of sexual abuse crimes dating back to August, when a child was raped in Astoria. “There’s been a rash of sex crimes against kids these past weeks, it seems,” Mr. Gianaris said.
Asked whether mandating permanent use of a monitoring device for released child abusers imposes additional punishment on those who already completed their sentences, Mr. Gianaris responded, “It is definitely an additional punishment,” but “in my opinion, it’s completely justified.”
Mr. Gianaris said he was sympathetic to civil rights issues, but that, “when you’re talking about people that sexually abuse children, I have no sympathy.”
Mr. Gianaris said he would circulate the legislation today, in search of sponsors in the state Senate. One state senator, John Sabini, a Democrat of Queens. spoke in support of the proposal. He said pedophiles deserved long sentences.
A City Council member, Peter Vallone Jr., said, “The only way to protect our kids from these monsters is to keep these animals in cages.”