Children at risk to falling victim to roving convicted sexual predators seeking travel abroad would be made safer by legislation passed today by the House of Representatives.
The International Megan’s Law,H.R. 4573, authored by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), establishes a model framework for international law enforcement notifications when convicted child-sex offenders who pose a danger to children arrive in a destination country.
“It is imperative that we take the lessons we have learned on how to protect our children from known child sex predators within our borders and expand those protections globally,” said Smith, a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. “Child predators thrive on secrecy, a secrecy that allows them to commit heinous crimes against children with impunity and without any real accountability. Megan’s Law–which its emphasis on notification–must go global, to protect American children and children worldwide.” Click here to read Smith’s floor statement. To watch Smith talk about the bill at a press conference on the steps of the Capitol, click here or below.
The legislation is named for Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old from Hamilton, N.J. in Smith’s district who was kidnapped, raped, and brutally murdered in 1994. Megan’s assailant was a convicted, repeat sex offender living across the street, unbeknownst to residents in the neighborhood. Due to public outcry in response to the tragedy and to hard work by Megan’s loving parents, Richard and Maureen Kanka, the New Jersey State Legislature passed the original Megan’s Law (NJSA 2C: 7-1 through 7-II) to require public notification of convicted sex offenders living in the community. Today all 50 States and all the territories have a Megan's Law, an important tool in preventing more children from becoming victims.
On learning that the bill would be brought to the House floor, Richard and Maureen Kanka, of Hamilton, N.J. released the following statement this afternoon:
“The support for Megan’s Law International is another step in the right direction. The protection of our most vulnerable is needed and a must to assure we as a people do everything possible to safeguard everybody. The tireless work from Congressman Smith shows his compassion for not only everyone in the United States but worldwide. With the efforts of Congressman Smith and the support of his congressional delegation we can take another step in that direction. We must not only show the world that we will not tolerate these perverted acts in the United States but internationally also.
This country has many advocates speaking out on many important topics. Maureen and I are just another voice trying to make a difference and will continue to fight for everyone to prevent sexual abuse on the domestic front or through international trafficking.”
Smith first introduced the International Megan’s Law bill alongside the Kankas in 2008, and has worked for passage ever since. The bill passed the House in 2010, but the Senate failed to act on it. A new version of the bill passed today in an unanimous voice vote on the House floor.
“The goals of this legislation do not stop at protecting children overseas from U.S. predators,” Smith said. “Sex offenders around the world are now able to cross borders and oceans easily to carry out their horrible designs against children under the cloak of anonymity and then disappear before a child is able or willing to reveal the crime. The International Megan’s Law would establish the model needed for the U.S. to persuade other countries to take action to stop both child sex tourism within their borders and protect children in the United States and elsewhere. The goal is reciprocal notice between countries. The stories of the victims are tragic—ruined childhoods, devastated families, lifetimes of memories of assaults and sometimes worse.”
The Smith bill, passed unanimously earlier this month with strong bipartisan support in the House Foreign Affairs Committee:
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addresses the problem of American convicted sex offenders traveling abroad intent on sexually abusing trafficked children in child sex tourism;
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establishes in law the Angel Watch Center, currently a one-person program in U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Enforcement, which notifies destination countries of intended travel by registered sex offenders with a serious sex offense against a child (Tier II or Tier III under the Adam Walsh Act);
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ensures the information currently maintained by the U.S. Marshals Service on child-sex offender travel is made available to the Center in a timelier manner so that it is actionable;
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requires the Center to engage in ongoing consultations with appropriate nongovernmental organizations regarding the international travel of registered sex offenders, and with Internet service and software providers regarding the use of technology to help implement an international sex offender travel notification system in the U.S. and abroad, and;
Smith said that the new International Megan’s Law will work in conjunction with America’s anti-human trafficking laws, which Smith wrote and steered through Congress in 2000, 2003 and 2005.
According to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office entitled “Current Situation Results in Thousands of Passports Issued to Registered Sex Offenders” at least 4,500 U.S. passports were issued to registered sex offenders in fiscal year 2008. The GAO emphasized that its numbers were probably understated due to the limitations of the data that it was able to access and analyze.
Estimates from the International Labor Organization indicate that 1.8 million children are victims of commercial sexual exploitation around the world every year.
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