The committee considered five different resolutions that would enact stronger sentences for certain offenders. Resolutions 106, 107, and 108 call upon the state to increase penalties for those who commit child abuse or kill children. Resolutions 145 and 807 call on the state to punish intoxicated drivers in proportion to the danger they present.
According to two testimonies from the Queens and Richmond DA’s offices, many violent and non-violent crimes against children often result in mere misdemeanor charges for the adults that are involved.
“Sadly, I find myself increasingly frustrated by the inadequacies in the existing laws available to prosecutors to protect the youngest, most vulnerable crime victims in New York” said Eric Rosenbaum, the assistant DA in Queens County, in a written testimony. “This frustration is shared by child abuse prosecutors with whom I work throughout the City and State.”
“The current state of the law is such that there are significant gaps in the child assault statutes and a general inability of the criminal justice system to treat serious offenders any different than those who commit acts of lesser harm” Rosenbaum’s testimony continued. “In every county, child abuse prosecutors see cases of serious, often on-going, child abuse and neglect that we can prosecute only at the misdemeanor level because of the way the laws are written.”
Rosenbaum read the testimony aloud, explaining that there was no way to use increased charges against those with prior misdemeanor child abuse records. “The laws allow these repeat misdemeanor offenders to be treated as if they were first time offenders” Rosenbaum said. “Similarly, abusers who engage in long courses of endangering a single victim, or who endanger multiple children, typically can be charged with nothing more than misdemeanors despite the aggravating factors that distinguish these cases from lower-level conduct.”
The resolutions explained that extremely violent crimes against children result in life-long trauma and sometimes death. The parents and guardians who make these attacks often get away without any significant jail time and the children are returned to place where the abuse continues after a few weeks.
Resolution 145 points out that while a person is prohibited from driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, the definition of what a drug is not as clear. Unless the substance is defined by New York State law as being a controlled substance it cannot be used by the prosecution. This exempts some offenders from any punishment at all, prescription medication abusers in particular.
Resolution 807 calls on the State to define inhalant intoxicant’s ingredients as controlled substances. The resolution states that in 2004, 20 year old Vincent Litto drove into oncoming traffic and caused an accident which resulted in the death of a 17 year old girl after sniffing a can of “Dust-Off”. Litto was not prosecuted because the ingredients were not illegal in the State of New York.
