Sexual Predator Bill Passed in Nebraska
I wrote about proposed legislation a few weeks ago here, Nebraska Targets Predators, Gives Pass to ‘Sexting’. The bill passed 48-0! Read about it below and remember that as good as this is, PC Pandora can help parents be safety police at home.
May 18, 2009
Sexual predator bill takes aim at social sites
By Martha Stoddard, World-Herald BureauLINCOLN — The long arm of the law may soon reach further into the virtual world of the Internet to protect children from sexual predators.
Nebraska lawmakers passed a bill 48-0 Monday that would bar dangerous sexual predators from using social networking sites, such as Facebook or MySpace, to prey on children.
If signed into law by Gov. Dave Heineman, Legislative Bill 97 also would make it a crime to entice children using personal digital assistants, such as Blackberries, or cell phones and would beef up penalties for various sex offenses.
But it would give teenage “sexters” a break from being convicted of possession and distribution of child pornography.
The bill provides an “affirmative defense” for those younger than 18 who send sexually explicit photographs of themselves to others, as long as the photos are only of the sender and the sender believed he or she was sending them to a willing recipient who was at least 15 years old.
A similar defense would be afforded those younger than 19 who receive a “sext” message.
The bill would require higher level sex offenders and those convicted of crimes against minors to register their e-mail addresses, instant messaging identifiers, chat room names and any domain names, blogs or Internet sites so their Internet use could be easily tracked.
Parents could obtain such addresses to check whether their kids were being contacted by convicted sex offenders, who typically contact youngsters under false names and ages.
The bill also would give prosecutors more leeway to introduce evidence of past sexual crimes by a defendant, which could show that a defendant has a propensity to commit such crimes.
Another provision of the bill would require criminal records checks of people hired to provide transportation to children or vulnerable adults and would prohibit the hiring of those charged or convicted of a felony or crime of moral turpitude.
