'Strongest' Law Against Online Sex Predators Announced In Florida
Law Requires Offenders To Register E-Mail, Instant Message Handles
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Florida's sex predator penalties became among the nation's toughest Monday as a new law took effect tripling maximum sentences to 15 years for solicitation and child pornography.
State Attorney General Bill McCollum said new cyber-crime law announced Monday are the strongest in the nation and are designed to deter would-be sex offenders and hand down harsher punishments.
"Child pornography is terrible," McCollum said. "You often have children under the age of five and actual sexual penetration pictures up there. People are sick. They go up to collect these pictures. They make them and distribute them. And they are addicted to this."
The law makes Florida the first state to specifically criminalize trips to meet minors for sex -- regardless of whether a child is actually contacted -- and requires offenders to register e-mail and instant message handles with authorities. That information will be shared with social networking sites like Myspace.com and Facebook.
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