Republican State Senator Elaine Philips has stated that Gov. Cuomo has given leeway to sex offenders to obtain new victims through a collection of conditional pardons that the Democrats have issued this past May. The pardons in question are relating to the restoration of the right to vote for over 24,000 people who have been released from jail and living under supervision by the community.
Joined by Mineola Superintendent Michael Nagler and New Hyde Park-Garden City Superintendent Jennifer Morrison along with other board members of education – called upon a conference with Cuomo to release the names of the pardoned former inmates and to provide information to schools to notify them.
Even though the list of the pardoned offenders have yet to be released, Philips is able to identify over two dozen sex offenders – one being in Mineola, who is receiving pardons by cross-checking the state’s online Megan’s Law registry using a database of parolees.
Phillips said, “Sex offenders are listed in the Megan’s Law registry because they are judged to pose a risk to children and society in general, so it makes no sense to give them the temptation to enter and remain in a school, ostensibly to cast a vote on Election Day. We need the governor to act immediately to reverse this decision, and to immediately tells us his plan to keep our children safe.”
Nagler said that as a superintendent his number one job is to keep students safe. He states it is “completely ridiculous” to ask registered sex offenders to vote inside schools, when they should be nowhere near children. “It’s an issue that came, quite frankly, as a surprise to me, and something I can easily put my support behind to stop,” Nagler said.
Because of this Nagler and Morrison are taking it upon themselves to seek outside properties for voting and poll purposes instead of schools.
While some schools close for the day giving students the day off, there is still the matter of afterschool activities that continue to run for the day. Having the day off for Election Day is not common across the state.
Cuomo nor his office has yet to respond to Phillips over this matter. He has announced though that the right to vote is “fundamental and it is unconscionable to deny that basic right of citizenship to New Yorkers who have paid their debt to society. Restoring a voice to men and women reentering their communities will strengthen our democracy, as well as the reentry process, which in-turn will help reduce recidivism.”
Phillip’s force to protect children from potential future sexual predatory voters is on the heels of her hesitation to support the Child Victims Act, which would have expanded the statute of limitations for criminal and civil cases involving sex abuse victims along with the one-year look-back window for past cases. The bill has yet to reach the senate floor and was not included in the final budget this year.
If you have been sexually abused please call our attorneys at Alonso Krangle LLP at 800-403-6191 or through our website at www.fightforvictims.com. Our attorneys are sensitive to your story and will assist you in recourse and the compensation and justice you deserve. We will fight together against your abuser or any institution that has failed to protect you. Please call us today to review your legal rights.