Last month’s ruling by the United States Supreme Court in a North Carolina case creates a serious problem for Kentucky law enforcement who seek to protect children from sexual predators.
On June 19, 2017, the nation’s highest court rendered a unanimous opinion in Packingham v. North Carolina. The Court’s ruling found a particular North Carolina statute unconstitutional as an infringement upon the First Amendment.
The statute made it a felony for a registered sex offender to access a commercial social networking website where the sex offender knows the site permits minor children to become members, or to create or maintain personal web pages.
The North Carolina statute is strikingly similar to Kentucky’s statute (KRS 17.546(2). Because of the similarity, the Court’s ruling is already impacting the viability of our statute that is imperative to safeguard Kentucky’s children from sexual predators when they visit social networking websites.
And it has serious potential to setback the great strides we have made in Kentucky to protect our children.
My Cyber Crimes Branch has made scores of arrests and brought 1,147 criminal counts against adults who use the internet, messaging services, email and social media sites to lure children into sexual encounters.
Kentucky State Police has pursued many, as has the Ashland Police Department, Louisville and Lexington police departments, and several other law enforcement agencies across the state.
And my office currently has 14 human trafficking cases and has assisted local law enforcement with resources in an effort to resolve 96 other human trafficking complaints. Most human traffickers use the internet or social media to find their victims.
All public officials and law enforcement agencies can agree that Kentucky’s children need and deserve protection from sexual predators.
While Packingham creates a serious problem for law enforcement who seek to protect children from sexual predators, the Supreme Court does suggest a more specific law might be acceptable.
To further protect Kentucky children and their families, I’ve reached out to lawmakers to work with my office on drafting legislation that I believe can pass constitutional muster. To get things started, I have instructed my staff to begin the process by researching and drafting potential language, and we will soon provide lawmakers a copy of a working draft for review and consideration.
At any given time there are hundreds of thousands of predators scouring the internet attempting to prey on our children. The Supreme Court’s ruling greatly increases that threat.
While my office works with lawmakers on this issue, as parents, we must be vigilant in monitoring and teaching our children about the risk strangers, or even perceived friends, present to them through technology. As the parents of a 7- and 8-year-old, my wife Brittiany and I are constantly keeping an observant eye on our children.
But with technology always changing, parents must be increasingly diligent.
As attorney general I’m focused on helping parents and better protecting our children by doing everything in my authority to make our neighborhoods and streets a little safer every night.
To better arm parents and school officials, my office has partnered with Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky to offer internet safety trainings for families and professionals. This strategy includes an update and publication of the internet safety toolkit, a highly-successful approach to internet safety training.
We must share this message with our communities. We must openly discuss abuse and the ways in which we can prevent it. And we must impress upon everyone that it is their legal and moral duty to report abuse. To report child abuse, contact my office at 877-KYSAFE1.
We cannot stand idly by at the expense of a child.
My office stands ready to help in any way we are able. We are committed at our core to better protect Kentucky’s children.
And together, we will make a difference.
Andy Beshear is Kentucky’s Attorney General
What about the men who were lied to….13 year old girls lie about their age, stating they are 18 (and they look every bit o 20). What about all of these young men whose lives were destroyed by the lie of a 13 yr old girl? This madness needs to stop! If the law were to change, and charge the girls for the lies they tell/told, half of the men in prison for child molestation would be released!!!!!
I think Kentucky should separate the offenders so that it is clear who is a threat to children. Personally, a 19 year old that had sex with a participating 15 year old does not represent imminent danger to me or my neighbors. A 30 year old with sexual battery to a 20 year old represents a dispute between two adults….not imminent danger to me or my neighbors. Stop the witch hunts and make it CLEAR who is a threat to children. Stop ruining the lives of men who pose no danger to children.
Thank you.
I see and read a mountain of information and opinions of the registry, mostly the same it is a very dangerous tool that has been exploited. I am on the damn thing for a crime I did not commit. I was charged with enough crimes to put me and a few more people away for life. I ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor to avoid a life sentence. Yet I am the furthest person who would commit such a henious crime. The people who commit such atrocities are not criminals they are sick and are in need of phsycological help. Most criminals are in trouble because of trying to gain something illegally. These individuals don’t gain anything but they destroy the lives that they have committed these acts against. If someone knows where to begin to stop this practice and abuse of this registry please let me know. I will go the distance with whatever needs to be done. I am somewhat intelligent and skilled in the business that I have worked my whole life, but I cannot hold a job because of these falsities against myself and that’s if I am lucky enough to get a job.
I by no means support any type of abuse and that against a child is even more so severe. When are we going to put the responsibility on the parents where it belongs when involving minors? Do you give a child a drivers license? Do you sell alcohol or tobacco to minors? Do you allow minors to make the decision if they have to go to school or not? Then why don’t we hold the parents liable to keep their children off the internet. Only adults who are capable of making adult decisions should be permitted on the i internet and if a child should have the need to be on the internet it should only be under direct adult supervision. Any child with a phone that has internet can look up pornography at will. So put the responsibility in the right place. There are thousands and thousands of innocent people on the registry which shows that our judicial system is flawed at its core. You cannot put all sex offenders in the same bucket together every case is unique and different. Once a persons debt has been paid to society then all rights should be restored; and I do mean all constitutuonal rights including rights to social media and rights to vote and rights to bare arms. Do you have a registry for murderers? Or drug dealers? Killing kids and selling drugs to kids? No so the registry all together is discriminatory in nature singling out on specific crime as if murdering a child or selling a child drugs is less harmful. Let’s get real with it. Many lives have been destroyed because of a lot of this. Sex offenders are being attacked, harassed, and violated just because of being on the registry. People take that information and post it on Facebook, messenger, Snapchat and all over maliciously and nothing is being done to stop this attack against people;people who are still human beings and Gods creations.