ATTLEBORO - On the heels of the Corey Saunders child rape case, lawmakers are demanding that prosecutors have a greater role in determining whether dangerous sex offenders are held in custody.

The legislators will file a bill that will make it easier for prosecutors to get a jury trial to determine if a sex offender should be held in custody at a treatment center after his or her jail sentence is over.

It would also make it more difficult for the offender to skip a jury trial and go to a hearing before a judge.

The move comes in the wake of a public outcry that Level 3 sex offender Corey Saunders was charged with raping a 6-year-old boy in a New Bedford public library after serving time for a similar offense.

Prosecutors and police officials have expressed outrage in the case because former Bristol County District Attorney Paul Walsh Jr. had sought in December 2006 to keep Saunders behind bars as a sexually dangerous person after he had completed a four-year prison term for the attempted rape of a 7-year-old South Attleboro boy in 1999. New Bedford Police Lt. Jeffrey Silva said earlier this week in a news conference that a superior court judge should not have allowed Saunders to go free after completing his prison sentence.

"It should have ended with the Attleboro child," he said.

Critics contend the bill is designed to allow prosecutors to appeal to the emotions and prejudges of members of a jury.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Steven Baddour, D-Methuen, and Rep. Charles Murphy, D-Burlington.

"This is, above all else, a child protection issue," Baddour said.

"It takes power away from convicted sex offenders and gives it back to our prosecutors so that we can better protect our children. I believe it is jurors, not judges, who should determine whether these sex offenders can return to their communities."

Murphy said: "The fact that a community can be shut out of this process by the sole choice of a convicted sex offender is simply not acceptable. This bill is designed to give members of the community a greater say in deciding who they are allowing back on their streets and into their neighborhoods."