McCaul Stands Up for Children Votes to Clamp Down on Sex Offenders

McCaul Stands Up for Children Votes to Clamp Down on Sex Offenders
September 14, 2005

(Washington D.C.)- Vital legislation addressing the epidemic of violence and sexual abuse against America's children passed the United States House of Representatives Wednesday afternoon. Congressman Michael McCaul, U.S. Representative of the Tenth Congressional District of Texas, cosponsored and strongly supported H.R. 3132, the Children's Safety Act of 2005. The bill overwhelmingly passed by 371-52.

"This is common sense legislation that will act in a comprehensive fashion," stated Congressman Michael McCaul. McCaul, a father of five young children, went on to say, "This bill puts the appropriate laws in place to help prevent sexual abuse against children, and intensifies the punishment for those evil enough to hurt America's most innocent and at-risk citizens."

The numbers show the need for the legislation - there are approximately 550,000 convicted sex offenders in the United States; of those 100,000 are "lost" and have failed to register in the communities as required under current law. Statistics show that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys are sexually exploited before they reach adulthood, and 1 of every 7 victims of sexual assault are under the age of six. Sadly, less than 35 percent of these incidents are reported to authorities.

Among other proposals the Children's Safety Act of 2005 provides much needed reform to America's sex offender registration and notification laws aimed at preventing crimes against children. The legislation requires increased reporting requirements for sex offenders, increases the penalties for those convicted and ultimately gives residents and local law enforcement as much information as possible about offenders who move into their communities, augmenting law enforcement's ability to find missing children before any harm can come to them. The bill also expands the definition of sex offenders to include juvenile sex offenders, and creates a new criminal penalty of a mandatory minimum of 5 years to a maximum of 20 years in prison for sex offenders who fail to comply with registration requirements. The legislation also expands law enforcement's ability to use DNA to solve crimes.

"This legislation gives Texas law enforcement more tools to find those who are hurting and taking advantage of our children," said Ron DeLord, President of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas which represent thousands of Texas police officers. Mr. DeLord went on to say, "Anytime we can keep better track of sex offenders in the Lone Star State we have that much better chance of stopping them from hurting others."

The legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/tx10_mccaul/9_14_05_child_safety.html