cmon, the guy has some issues
FOLEY CHILD SAFETY LEGISLATION PASSES SENATE
FOLEY LEGISLATION OVERHAULING AND STRENGTHENING SEX OFFENDER PENALTIES INCLUDED IN ADAM WALSH CHILD SAFETY ACT OF 2005
July 21, 2006
WASHINGTON - Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL), Co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus, applauded Senate passage of legislation he authored and introduced overhauling our nation’s sex offender registration and notification laws.
“For too long our nation has tracked library books better than it has sex offenders. That day is coming to an end,” said Foley. “Senator Hatch and Leader Frist have been resolute in keeping this legislation on track. We are closing loopholes that sex offenders and pedophiles have used to prey on children.”
Included in the legislation are provisions Foley authored and introduced last year including:
Highlights of the Foley Provisions in H.R. 4472, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006
A. Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (Title I)
I. New Changes to Current Law: General
Creates New, Tougher Registration Requirements for Sex Offenders:
Expands Existing Offenses against Children: The bill adds, among other things, the “use of the Internet to facilitate or commit a crime against a minor” as one that will trigger registration.
Tribal Lands: For the first time, the sex offender law will cover “federally recognized tribal lands.”
II. New Requirements for Sex Offenders
Prior to Release: A sex offender will have to register prior to release from prison or supervised release. Current law requires registration after release.
New Registration Requirements: Requires that a sex offender register, in person, in every state where they intend to reside, work or go to school.
In Person Registration and Updates to Registration: An offender must report, in person, to an appropriate official within their state to periodically update their registration (Tier I – every year; Tier II – every 6 months; Tier III – every 3 months). An offender must also report, in person, to an appropriate official within 3 days (not 10 days under current law) if they change their address, where they work or go to school.
Increases Duration for Periodic Registration: The duration to register for a Tier I offender increases from 10 years to 15; 25 years for a Tier II; and the life of the offender if they are Tier III.
Additional Information Now Required for the Registry: In addition to what they must provide, offenders will also need to supply their: Social Security Number; Name and address where the offender goes to school and lives; fingerprints and palm prints; photograph (which is taken during their periodic registration); DNA sample; and criminal history. The offenders Social Security Number and the name of his employer and school will not be listed on the website.
Tracking Devices: Establishes a demonstration program requiring sex offenders to wear tracking devices for the duration of their supervised release.
New Notification Requirements for those Attending Educational Institutions: Requires an individual to notify police when they enroll or attend (current law is just attend) high schools, vocational/technical institutions or higher education institutions.
III. New State Requirements
State-wide Registries: Requires the state, not local jurisdictions, to maintain a state-wide registry.
Searchable Statewide Sex Offender Website: Each state will be required to maintain a multi-field, searchable sex offender website which will be developed and paid for by the U.S. Department of Justice.
State Penalty for Failure to Comply: Requires that states adopt felony criminal penalties for offenders who fail to comply with this Act.
Community Notification Program: Requires states to proactively inform, among others, the U.S. Attorney General, law enforcement, Social Service entities and the public at large (for those who wish to receive the information) of any offender who registers or of any update to the registry.
IV. New Federal Requirements
Federal Registry and Website – Authorizes the National Sex Offender Registry and the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website.
Immediate Electronic Notification to States of a Sex Offender’s Intent to Relocate: Requires the Attorney General, through the National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR), to send out an immediate electronic notification of a sex offender’s intent to move to a new domicile state once the Attorney General is notified by the current domiciliary state of the sex offender’s intent to relocate.
Felony: Makes failing to register or updating registry information a federal felony punishable up to 10 years in prison.
Sex Offenders Entering the U.S.: Requires the Secretary of State and Homeland Security to establish a system for informing states about sex offenders entering the U.S. from overseas who would be required to register.
U .S. Marshall Service: Gives the U.S. Marshall Service authority to apprehend sex offenders who violate the provisions in this act.
SMART ( Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking) Office: Establishes a new office at the U.S. Department of Justice to administer the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act and programs designed to protect children.
Missing Child Reporting Requirements: Requires that law enforcement must update the NCIC of a missing child report within 2 hours of receipt.
V. Compliance
Timing: Gives states at least 3 years to comply.
Bonus Payments: provides bonus payments to states for complying with this act sooner than the three-year timeline set out in this measure.
Penalties: provides a 10% reduction in justice assistance grants for those states that do not substantially comply with the law.
B. Internet Safety Act (Title VII)
Child Exploitation Enterprises: This section creates a RICO-like criminal statute for persons engaged in two or more offenses against children. Specifically, a child exploitation enterprise involves two or more offenses under section 1201 (kidnapping), section 1466A (obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children), section 1470 (transfer of obscene material to minors), section 1591 (sex trafficking of children), chapter 110 (sexual exploitation and other abuse of children), or chapter 117 (transportation for illegal sexual activity and related crimes) committed by three or more people acting in concert.
Increased Penalties for Registered Sex Offenders: This section imposes a new, mandatory, consecutive 10-year sentence for crimes against a child under Title 18.
Deception by Imbedded Words or Images: This section create a new federal offense for website operators who insert words or imagines into source code with the intent to deceive persons into viewing obscene material on the internet.
Additional Federal Prosecutors: This section authorizes additional appropriations for 200 new attorneys within the United States Attorneys’ Offices to prosecute child sex offenses including child exploitation, child sexual abuse, and child obscenity and pornography offenses.
Additional Computer-Related Resources: This section provides for 30 additional computer forensic examiners withing the Regional Computer Forensci Laboratories (RCFL). These examiners will be dedicated to investigating crimes invovling the sexual exploitation of children and related offenses.
Additional ICAC Task Forces: This section authorizes additional appropriations for up to twenty additional task forces within the Department of Justice’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program (ICAC). These task forces are comprised of members of federal, state, and local law enforcement, local prosecution agencies, educators and mental health professionals who provide investigatory tools to law enforcement and assist parents and schools with child victimization issues.
Masha’s Law: This section expands civil remedies for sexual offenses against minors. Currently, civil remedies may only be recovered by child victims who suffer physical injury. This amendment allows any aggrieved party, including the parents of a minor victim, to seek civil remedies and allows a victim to seek civil remedies as an adult. This amendment also extends the statute of limitations to ten years.
C. Protecting our Children from Violence Act (Sec. 151(2))
Access to NCIC and III: gives access to state social service investigators to the national crime information databases when they are investigating or responding to reports of child abuse, neglect or exploitation.
D. Child Fingerprints Safekeeping Act of 2006 (Sec. 627 )
Child Fingerprinting Program: One of the most important things a parent can have when a child goes missing is a recent photograph and a set of fingerprints. This program will provide grant money to local police who wish to set up a voluntary fingerprinting program for children. The parents, not police, keep the set of fingerprints in the event a child goes missing.
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