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Press
Release
NCMEC JOINS WITH MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO ANNOUNCE TOUGHER SEX
OFFENDER LEGISLATION
“The Children’s Safety And Violent Crime Reduction Act
of 2005” will help track sex offenders more consistently and keep
our nation’s children safer
WASHINGTON, DC – March 8, 2006 – The National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) applauds Speaker Dennis
Hastert, Chairman James Sensenbrenner, and other members of Congress for
drafting sweeping legislation that will overhaul our nation’s current
sex offender registration and community notification law. This new legislation
is entitled “The Children’s Safety And Violent Crime Reduction
Act of 2005” (H.R. 4472).
“Today, there are more than a half million sex offenders that
are “supposed” to be registered in the United States; however
at least 100,000 of these offenders are actually “missing”
from the system. This is a massive problem,” said NCMEC President
and CEO Ernie Allen. “I commend Speaker Hastert and Chairman Sensenbrenner
for recognizing that the current federal sex offender law needs to be
revamped. This new legislation will help build a more comprehensive system
for tracking sex offenders and better protect our nation’s children.”
NCMEC believes this legislation, “The Children’s Safety
And Violent Crime Reduction Act of 2005” will increase and tighten
tracking of sex offenders and provide standards for notifying the public
about these predators. It will integrate previous years of legislation
into a more consistent way of governing how sex offenders are monitored
and how communities are notified.
Highlights of this legislation:
- Improves Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Program
to ensure that sex offenders register, and keep current, the address
where they reside, work and attend school.
- Improves verification systems to keep sex offender information up-to-date
and accurate.
- Creates the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website to search
for sex offender information in each community.
- Expands community notification requirements to include active efforts
to inform law-enforcement agencies, schools, public housing, social
service agencies and volunteer organizations in the area where a sex
offender resides, works or attends school.
Currently, there is a wide disparity among the state programs, in both
registration and notification procedures. NCMEC believes this is a serious
problem due to the mobility of our society and has led to “lost”
sex offenders who fail to comply with their registration duties. In addition,
there is a lack of resources to enforce these registration laws on a regular
basis. More funding is necessary to assist states in maintaining and improving
these programs so a comprehensive system for tracking sex offenders and
alerting communities can be developed.
According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice, on average,
child molesters were released after serving about three years of their
seven-year sentence. And released sex offenders were four times more likely
to be rearrested for a sex crime than non-sex offenders.
Allen added, “Without reform, the current situation poses an enormous
challenge for law enforcement trying to keep track of these offenders
and evokes unparalleled fear among the public. There is a clear need for
more consistency among state programs for sex offender registration and
community notification. Our law-enforcement agencies deserve more and
so do our most vulnerable members of our society, our children.”
About 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 365,600
leads. Since its establishment in 1984, NCMEC has assisted law enforcement
with more than 117,100 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery
of more than 99,500 children. For more information about NCMEC, call its
toll-free hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit www.missingkids.com.
CONTACT:
Communications Department
NCMEC
703-837-6111
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