Kilah Davenport Child Protection Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The bill under consideration today, the Kilah Davenport Child Protection Act of 2013, is named after a young girl from North Carolina who was brutally beaten by her stepfather last year. Her stepfather was charged with felony child abuse and awaits trial. Kilah, who was only 3 years old at the time of the attack, will face a lifetime of brain damage and paralysis at the hands of someone who was supposed to love and protect her.

Stories like Kilah's are absolutely tragic, but they are not uncommon across our country. Approximately 3.5 million cases of child abuse involving 6 million children are reported every year in the United States. In my own State of Georgia, there were over 37,000 reports of child abuse and neglect with over 15,000 substantiated incidents of abuse in 2009 alone. And the rates of child abuse are even higher in Indian Country, where Indian children experience child abuse at a significantly higher rate than the rest of the population.

Adding to those and these tragedies is the fact that child abuse cases are not always reported and oftentimes not prosecuted with the same vigor as other crimes. Studies have found that charges are less likely to be filed against perpetrators in child abuse cases than most other felonies, and these cases have lower incarceration rates than other crimes.

H.R. 3627, introduced by Mr. Pittenger of North Carolina, will help draw attention to how child abuse cases are handled across the country by requiring the Judiciary Department to issue reports on the criminal penalties for child abuse in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories.

This report focused on State statutes because most child abuse cases are handled at the State level. However, there are parts of the country where the Federal Government has an increased law enforcement role, such as including in Indian Country. H.R. 3627 helps to strengthen the Federal response to child abuse and other forms of domestic violence in Indian Country and the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction by amending 18 U.S.C., section 117 to allow prior convictions for the abuse of a child to trigger the offense of domestic assault by a habitual offender. This is a small but important change to the statute that will permit the Federal Government to prosecute more violent offenders.

I commend the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pittenger) for drawing attention to the terrible crime of child abuse and encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

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COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, just in closing, again, it is good to be with my friend down here. Also, the bill that Mr. Pittenger is bringing forward is also commonsense legislation I think that strengthens their home, strengthens their family, and addresses an issue such as child abuse and the real consequences the Davenport family are finding, but not just them, but many across our country.

With that, I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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