FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                             Thursday, April 3, 2008 Contact: Senator Betsi DeVries

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SENATOR DEVRIES TESTIFIES ON ONLINE CHILD SAFETY ACT

CONCORD –Manchester Senator Betsi DeVries testified today before the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee in favor of a Senate bill to protect children from online predators and child pornographers.

“The Internet holds tremendous potential for children – it’s where a new generation of children now learn and play – but it is also a source of risk that even the most committed and loving parent cannot always predict or prevent,” Senator DeVries (D-Manchester) said. “I support Senate Bill 495 because I believe it will give our law enforcement officials the tools necessary to protect our children from those predators who would use the Internet to harm them.”

The Online Child Safety Act was sponsored by Senator Joseph Foster (D-Nashua), who worked with Governor John Lynch to modernize and strengthen the state’s laws covering Internet solicitation of children, child pornography and indecent exposure via new technologies. Senate Bill 495 passed unanimously in the Senate on March 20.

Foster was unavailable to testify on his bill today and asked Senator DeVries, a co-sponsor, to speak on his behalf.

The legislation builds on the Child Protection Act passed in 2006, which also was sponsored by Senator Foster. Numerous law enforcement officers, including police, county prosecutors and the state Attorney General testified in support of the legislation.

“Today we have no clear avenue to prosecute individuals who expose themselves or perform lewd acts transmitted by computer web cams. This is one example of the way this legislation updates our laws in critical ways to protect children,” DeVries said.

Senate Bill 495 strengthens the penalties in existing law for enticing a child over the Internet, and provides enhanced penalties for repeat offenders; it overhauls and expands existing child pornography laws to better reflect the victimization that occurs when images of sexually abused children are created and distributed and it addresses new technologies that can be misused to victimize children.