Bills in Congress - HR 1149 and HR 1422

2-27-2009 National:

Here we have two identical bills presented by different lawmakers.

`Child Protection Reauthorization Act of 2009' and `Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Reauthorization Act of 2009' respectively

Sponsor: Rep Brown-Waite, Ginny [FL-5]
Introduced 2/24/2009 Bill HR 1149

Sponsor: Rep Smith, Lamar [TX-21]
Introduced 3/10/2009 Bill HR 1422

The intent of the bills are: To reauthorize the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, and for other purposes.

Effectively these bills merely change dates in the laws, those "from-to" dates describe what period grants will be available. Further, only specific sections of the Adam Walsh Act are addressed, mainly those sections dealing with registration and the failure thereof, the experimental GPS monitoring program, and grants to fight child abuse; and one program I've never heard of before "Fugitive Safe Surrender" program (see below).


One section of this bill is absolutely worthwhile:

Here is the section of law which will be modified by this bill:

3797ee–1. Juvenile sex offender treatment grants
(a) Authority to make juvenile sex offender treatment grants
(1) In general

From amounts made available to carry out this subchapter, the Attorney General may make grants to units of local government, Indian tribal governments, correctional facilities, other public and private entities, and multijurisdictional or regional consortia thereof for activities specified in paragraph (2).

(2) Covered activities
An activity referred to in paragraph (1) is any program, project, or other activity to assist in the treatment of juvenile sex offenders.

(b) Juvenile sex offender defined
For purposes of this section, the term “juvenile sex offender” is a sex offender who had not attained the age of 18 years at the time of his or her offense.

(c) Authorization of appropriations
There are authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2009 to carry out this subchapter.

It seems strange that therapy grants are provided for juveniles, when so many lawmakers believe "there is no cure," obviously that is a smoke screen because the vey same lawmakers are approving therapy grants, at least for juveniles.

Further, if there is an age at which a person magically becomes untreatable, I wonder where the studies are which prove that? Strange, there are many evidenced-based studies showing that treatment -for all offenders- reduces the risk of recidivism. Even the U.S. Supreme court in McKune-v-Lile held that:

States thus have a vital interest in rehabilitating convicted sex offenders. Therapists and correctional officers widely agree that clinical rehabilitative programs can enable sex offenders to manage their impulses and in this way reduce recidivism. See U. S. Dept. of Justice, Nat. Institute of Corrections, A Practitioner's Guide to Treating the Incarcerated Male Sex Offender xiii (1988) ("[T]he rate of recidivism of treated sex offenders is fairly consistently estimated to be around 15%," whereas the rate of recidivism of untreated offenders has been estimated to be as high as 80%. "Even if both of these figures are exaggerated, there would still be a significant difference between treated and untreated individuals").

Another section of these bills is:

§ 16989. Fugitive Safe Surrender

(a) Findings
Congress finds the following:

(1) Fugitive Safe Surrender is a program of the United States Marshals Service, in partnership with public, private, and faith-based organizations, which temporarily transforms a church into a courthouse, so fugitives can turn themselves in, in an atmosphere where they feel more comfortable to do so, and have nonviolent cases adjudicated immediately.

(2) In the 4-day pilot program in Cleveland, Ohio, over 800 fugitives turned themselves in. By contrast, a successful Fugitive Task Force sweep, conducted for 3 days after Fugitive Safe Surrender, resulted in the arrest of 65 individuals.

(3) Fugitive Safe Surrender is safer for defendants, law enforcement, and innocent bystanders than needing to conduct a sweep.

(4) Based upon the success of the pilot program, Fugitive Safe Surrender should be expanded to other cities throughout the United States.

(b) Establishment
The United States Marshals Service shall establish, direct, and coordinate a program (to be known as the “Fugitive Safe Surrender Program”), under which the United States Marshals Service shall apprehend Federal, State, and local fugitives in a safe, secure, and peaceful manner to be coordinated with law enforcement and community leaders in designated cities throughout the United States.

I would SUPPORT the above provisions and would like to see therapy added for all offenders. Contact both lawmakers, with your views, by clicking on his/her name above, as well as your own folks in Congress.

Thanks,
eAdvocate

Note: To see all bills concerning sex offenders or their familes currently in Congress simply click here. At the present time I do not review sex offender bills concerning Immigration or Appropriations, they get very involved and are time consuming.

Note: Full bill text WILL NOT be included in this blog because as time goes on bills are amended by Congressional Committees and also on the floor of either house, and it is too easy to confuse folks who may not realize that. Further, links to the bill in Congress will be provided so folks can always see the latest version of the bill.