Concord — Near the end of his State of the State speech to a crowded House chamber, Democratic Gov. John Lynch highlighted one of his top priorities: a 28-point "Child Protection Act" to toughen penalties for sex offenders.

"Nothing, nothing is more important than keeping our children safe. It's time to send a clear message: If you prey on our children in New Hampshire, we're going to send you to prison — and we're going to keep you there for a long time," Lynch said in the mid-January speech, drawing a standing ovation.

Two weeks earlier, 118 miles to the north, Republican Gov. Jim Douglas asked Vermont lawmakers at his State of the State address to pass his "Safe Communities" legislation, which includes a civil commitment provision to detain untreated sexual predators and some violent offenders even after their prison sentences expire.

"These criminals are the worst of the worst: repeat rapists, child molesters and murderers who, left untreated, represent a very high likelihood to re-offend once released," Douglas said.

The tough talk from both governors played to fears sweeping statehouses, and seeping into living rooms, throughout the country.

But some lawmakers, academics and attorneys who have struggled with how best to deal with sex offenders cautioned that politics should not trump sound policy, especially when statistics show that sex crimes have declined nationwide over the past decade. And while rates of reported rapes have increased in New Hampshire and, more recently, in Vermont, they still remain well below national levels.

"It's easy to get on this bandwagon," said New Hampshire state Rep. Lee Hammond, a Lebanon Democrat on the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety subcommittee that is grappling with Lynch's proposal. "You have every parent saying sex offenders are horrible, but they don't stop and think through all the aspects of it, particularly as it applies to young people (who are charged as offenders) and what constitutes a sex offense."

"Going after sex offenders is certainly a politically correct position to take, but as we have found across America, in the long run you end up being tough on the taxpayers by incarcerating people for long sentences who eventually get out with no treatment," added Vermont Republican state Sen. Vince Illuzzi, who also serves as the Essex County state's attorney.

The debates in New Hampshire and Vermont are part of a national trend, with many states passing tougher penalties against sex offenders over the past decade. From 1994 to 2004, the rate of child sexual abuse cases reported to social service agencies dropped by about 44 percent; some criminologists suggest that increased incarceration has been a factor.

In California, for instance, after 7-year-old Megan Kanka was raped and killed by a convicted child molester who lived across the street from her family, who were unaware of his criminal past, lawmakers passed "Megan's Law," giving the public more information about sex offenders now living in the community.

In 2004, California, Tennessee, Georgia, Washington, New York and Maine all toughened laws dealing with sex crimes against children.

And last year, after 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford was abducted from her Florida bedroom, raped and buried alive, allegedly by a convicted sex offender, Florida passed the Jessica Lunsford Act, which calls for a minimum 25-year sentence for child molesters, among other provisions. Several other states are rapidly following suit with versions of what is being called "Jessica's Law."

In Alabama last July, Attorney General Troy King even wore an electronic monitoring bracelet for several days, unstrapping it only after the legislature passed a law with lengthy sentences for sex offenders and monitoring after they leave prison.

King might even have been considered a moderate in the debate. He urged lawmakers not to include an amendment requiring mandatory surgical castration for sex offenders who attack children under 12, a measure supported by a former Alabama governor. (King counseled that it could lead to the entire law being declared unconstitutional.)

The Alabama debate was fueled, in part, by scrutiny from Fox News talk-show host Bill O'Reilly, who is campaigning to get versions of Jessica's Law passed in every state, even providing easy e-mail links to each governor's office on his Web site (the hyperlink reads "outrage funnel").

And the campaign against sex offenders is, by no means, limited to the United States. In January, British authorities said they would improve background checks on teachers after a national furor erupted when a registered sex offender was found to be working as a gym teacher.

The media scrutiny hit Vermont in January when O'Reilly zeroed in on Vermont District Court Judge Edward Cashman, who initially gave a 60-day jail sentence to admitted child molester Mark Hulett. Because Vermont at that time did not offer in-prison treatment for such "low-risk" offenders, the judge said a short sentence was the best way to get Hulett the community-based treatment that would reduce his risk of reoffending.

With phrases like "protecting evil" and "Darfur vs. Vermont," O'Reilly pounded the state for a few weeks. (Cashman eventually increased the sentence to a minimum of three years after Vermont corrections officials promised to provide treatment for Hulett and other offenders deemed "low-risk.")

At one point, lawmakers' e-mail accounts in Montpelier were too clogged with incoming mail to navigate. And Douglas, the Vermont governor, called for Cashman to resign.

While Douglas and Lynch, who are both up for re-election in November, filed their legislation months before the Cashman controversy, some observers said politics was behind their State of the State pronouncements.