Hatch-Biden Bill Cracking Down on Sexual Predators Passes the United States Senate

Hatch-Biden Bill Cracking Down on Sexual Predators Passes the United States Senate

A bill cosponsored by Senators Joe Biden (D-DE) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to crack down on sexual predators passed the United States Senate last night. The "Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act" makes it easier for local law enforcement to track sex offenders and prevent repeat offenses.

"Plain and simple: This legislation will help save children's lives," said Senator Biden, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Victims Rights. "Sexual predators must be tracked and parents have a right to know when these criminals are in their neighborhoods."

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has estimated that there are over 550,000 sex offenders nationwide, 20% of whom are not accounted for.

"We've done a lot to protect our kids against sex offenders - creating the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984, enacting the Biden Crime Bill in 1994, and enacting the Amber Alert system in 2003 - but it is not enough. We must do more. Too many of these low-lifes are able to just slip through the cracks. The bill that passed the Senate today is a step in the right direction," said Biden.

Specifically, the Hatch-Biden bill will require sex offenders to register prior to release from prison. It will also add the "use of the Internet to facilitate or commit a crime against a minor" as an offense that could trigger registration.

In addition, the bill provides a felony for offenders who violate their registration requirements. It also adds a mandatory annual update of a sex offender's photograph.

"States such as Delaware and Florida have worked hard to build comprehensive and effective statewide registration systems," said Senator Biden. "But there are other states that are not as advanced - whose systems are not as sophisticated. We now seek to fully integrate and expand those networks so that communities nationwide will be warned when high-risk offenders come to live among them," said Biden.

Senator Biden is the author of the landmark 1994 crime bill that helped create the first state programs to track and register convicted child molesters. Additionally, he is an original member of the bipartisan Senate Caucus on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children which was founded last year. This panel is charged with helping to develop legislation on behalf of missing, exploited, and runaway children, and to work with both national and local child advocacy organizations.

The legislation has been endorsed by: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, The Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and the National Fraternal Order of Police.

Companion legislation has already passed the House of Representatives, and the two versions must now be reconciled in a Conference Committee.

http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=255227&&