SCHUMER: CLOSE LOOPHOLES IN SEX OFFENDER LAW


The Associated Press/Michael Gormley

NEW YORK -- State laws nationwide prohibit sex offenders from working as school teachers andcoaches. But most laws don't cover karate instructors, youth coaches, carnival workers, clowns,magicians, or dance instructors in the private sector when public funds aren't involved.
Sen. Charles Schumer of New York wants to change that. He's proposing a national measurethat would ban sex offenders from these and other jobs even when their employer gets no publicfunds, which has provided the jurisdiction for some laws restricting sex offenders.
Additional jobs that could come under the measure would be tutors, youth mentors, workers atrecreation centers, video arcades, and children's museums.  Dangerous loopholes exist inlocal and state laws which allow convicted sex offenders to work in positions of trust where theycan have unlimited access to potential child victims, said Laura A. Ahearn, executive director ofParents for Megan's Law and the Crime Victims Center.
(New York)