HONOLULU — Hawaii’s attorney general said said judges are going too easy on Internet sex predators. He said he may ask the federal government for help.

Internet Sex Crime Taskforce investigators said they have a frighteningly easy time luring potential sex predators. The problem, they said, is getting them behind bars.

“These are serious offenses and they are just being treated that way here in Hawaii, in state court,” Attorney General Mark Bennett said.

Part of the problem is that offenders, like Paul Clur, who tried to lure a 13-year-old girl, look middle-class, remorseful and harmless to judges.

Judge Karl Sakamoto gave Clur 15 weekends in jail and a chance to keep the case off his record. Other Internet predators got similar treatment from other judges.

“Not one of those men has been sentenced to more than a year in jail. Some of them have gotten their convictions deferred so they are not even sex offenders,” Bennett said.

Bennett said the Internet and chat rooms seem to have inspired a new class of sex offenders: ones who are smart, cautious and probably watching closely what happens to those who get caught.

“They are going to say, ‘Fine. I am willing to take that risk,'” Bennett said.

Unhappy with the judges at state court, Bennett said he may look for another set of judges at federal court, where for the same behavior, Internet predators get a lot more time in prison.

The nine Internet predators sentenced in state court got an average 98 days in jail — under federal law, the minimum sentence is five years without parole. That’s the most Internet enticement defendants can get in Hawaii. So far, everyone will spend that time on probation.