Hatch-Biden Bill Cracking Down on Sexual Predators to be Signed into Law Today

Hatch-Biden Bill Cracking Down on Sexual Predators to be Signed into Law Today

WASHINGTON, DC - A hard-fought, bipartisan bill designed to crack down on sexual predators will become law later today in a White House signing ceremony. The "Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act," sponsored by Senators Joe Biden (D-DE) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT), will now make it easier for local law enforcement and parents to track sex offenders and to 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 Drugs. "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 estimates that there are approximately 600,000 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. The Adam Walsh Act will help prevent these low-life sexual predators from slipping through the cracks."

Specifically, the Hatch-Biden bill tightens existing law by requiring sex offenders to register prior to release from prison. It also adds the "use of the Internet to facilitate or commit a crime against a minor" as an offense that triggers registration.

In addition, child predators will be required to periodically check in personally with the authorities and update their photographs so law enforcement and parents will know what they look like now. And if a registered sex offender fails to comply with any of the law's requirements, he or she faces up to 10 years in prison.

The Adam Walsh Act also fully integrates and expands existing state registration systems so that information will be shared instantly and seamlessly among them.

"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.

http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=259755&&