Pols applaud plan to increase sexual abuse penalties

Elected officials stood together this week to celebrate the passage of legislation that beefs up the legal consequences of sexual abuse.

The bill, which was lauded Tuesday by Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, state Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas (D-Astoria) and state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria), was written to make sure any time spent incarcerated would be excluded from the 10-year period during which penalties are increased for multiple misdemeanor sexual offenses.

Lawmakers said persistent sexual abuse makes convictions of three or more misdemeanor sex offenses in a 10-year period a felony. Previously, time spent incarcerated was included in that 10-year-period. But this new rule, officials said, undoes that.

Brown said the change in classification of that 10-year-period was a loophole he and the other lawmakers were happy to fix.

“The bill – which is now before the governor for his approval – will close a loophole that has prevented prosecutors like myself from holding repeat misdemeanor sex offenders fully accountable for their actions,” Brown said.

Simotas said the law was a welcome change and would help bring offenders to justice without any legal loopholes for them or their attorneys to jump through.

“The law must provide protection for the most vulnerable among us, not a shield for predators,” she said. “The legislation’s passage is an important step towards ensuring that individuals who commit persistent sexual abuse face the full consequences of their crimes.”

Gianaris, who helped push the legislation through on the state level, urged Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign it into law in order to protect everyone from those who prey on the vulnerable.

“There should be no place in our society for criminals who repeatedly sexually abuse others in our community,” he said. “This bill would crack down harder on those miscreants who commit multiple sex crimes in a 10-year-period, and in doing so make every New Yorker safer.”