Child Protection and Safety Act

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=69893

Bush Signs Sex Offender Legislation on 25th Anniversary of Adam Walsh Abduction; NCMEC Praises Lawmakers for Sex Offender Registry
7/27/2006 12:31:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children media line, 703-837-6111
WASHINGTON, July 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) calls the passage of "The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006," the toughest and most important piece of legislation in the past 25 years in helping to save children's lives. This legislation (H.R. 4472) creates a national sex offender database and implements measures designed to drastically improve the tracking of sex offenders. It will also help to protect children against sexual exploitation and violent crimes.
"I commend President Bush and the members of Congress for enacting a bill allowing law enforcement to stay one step ahead of the sex offenders in this country who prey on our children. This bill provides a more comprehensive system for tracking sex offenders within the 50 states, calls for better resources for keeping tabs on these predators, and holds sex offenders accountable for failing to register," said NCMEC President and CEO Ernie Allen.
"The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006" will be signed into law today on the 25th anniversary of the abduction of Adam Walsh, the 6-year-old son of NCMEC co-founders John and Reve Walsh. The law is named for Adam, who was kidnapped from a shopping mall in Hollywood, Fla., and found murdered 16 days later. Sadly, no one was ever charged in Adam's murder. His abduction and murder helped spark the nation's missing children's movement.
Allen added, "Twenty-five years after Adam's abduction we can state with confidence that we have come a long way in our efforts to help keep our kids safer. Thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of John and Reve, who have turned their personal tragedy into a call to action, we have this historic legislation. This new law will change the way we deal with child predators across this nation. Now we need Congress to fully fund this bill so it can be strongly executed."
Today, there are nearly 600,000 registered sex offenders in the United States; however, as many as 150,000 are "lost" in the system having failed to comply with registration duties and remain undetected due to law enforcement's inability to track their whereabouts. NCMEC believes this new bill builds on 20 years of legislative efforts to better manage the problem of sex offenders in our communities.
Highlights of the bill:
1) Creates a national public sex offender registry. Provides the public with better and more uniform information about sex offenders so that all communities benefit from the same kind of information. States will be required to list all, not merely some, sex offenders on their Web site registries.
2) Provides for consistent sex offender requirements in all states. Sex offenders will no longer be able to take advantage of different state requirements to avoid registering. It mandates that sex offenders be registered before they are released from prison or three days after a sentence of probation. 3) Penalizes failure to comply with registration duties as a state and federal felony. 4) Enhances the ability of law enforcement to track sex offenders when they move, cutting down on the number of "missing" sex offenders in the system. It requires sex offenders to verify registration in person to law enforcement rather than by mail.
5) Makes important changes in the way law enforcement handles missing child reports. Reports must be entered into the FBI's National Crime Information Center within two hours. It also prohibits the removal of a missing child report when the child turns age 18 before being recovered.
6) In response to the growing problem of commercial child pornography and the exploitation of children online, the bill increases the number of Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces across the nation.
Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) was one of the primary authors of the original bill. Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Joseph Biden (D- Del.) were the primary sponsors of the bill in the Senate. NCMEC also recognizes U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.); House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.), along with all the members of the Judiciary Committees in both the Senate and the House and the other co-sponsors of the bill for their dedication in getting this legislation passed.
To obtain a copy of "The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006" and to learn what you can do to help protect children, visit http://www.missingkids.com.
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About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. NCMEC's congressionally mandated CyberTipline, a reporting mechanism for child sexual exploitation, has handled more than 400,000 leads. Since its establishment in 1984, NCMEC has assisted law enforcement with more than 120,000 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 100,000 children. For more information about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 800-THE-LOST, or visit its Web site at http://www.missingkids.com.
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