KENNETH LOVETT, New York Daily News
rate Senate Republicans vowed Tuesday to go after filmmakers who deliberately film beatings and then post them on Web sites like YouTube.”They make me sick,” state Sen. John Flanagan, a Long Island Republican, said of recent videos with titles like “Dude gets savagely put to sleep” and “Brutal girl fight.”
“We should never, ever, ever glorify this type of behavior,” Flanagan said.
The lawmakers said taped attacks against the homeless and Web videos like the one that showed a girl gang brutally beating a 12-year-old Indiana girl show a disregard for human life and desensitize those who watch them. They added that the Web postings then victimize people a second time.
“There’s inhuman, barbaric stuff going on,” said state Sen. Joseph Robach (R-Rochester).
The lawmakers proposed creating a new crime, “unlawful violent recording,” that would add an additional felony when a person commits an assault knowing it will be recorded and distributed.
The bill would also crack down on people who persuade others to participate, like those who produce the controversial “Bum Fights” videos, in which homeless men are paid small amounts of cash, cigarettes or alcohol to subject themselves to beatings.
Each crime would carry a penalty of up to four years in prison for adults. Juveniles would face Family Court charges.
A key Assembly Democrat, Codes Committee Chairman Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn), came out in favor of the legislation.
“They made a good point,” Lentol said of the Senate Republicans. “This is the kind of action that cries out for a legislative remedy.”
