International Megans law EXPOSED! Part-2 of the truth about HR 5138

8-3-2010 Washington DC:

You may remember my commentary of 7-30 "International Megans law EXPOSED! Now, hear the truth about HR 5138."

The essence of that was, What evidence did speakers present to support the passage of "International Megans Law (IML)" HR-5138? Reviewing the speakers testimony all I could find was a singular comment about 73 crimes, and a rhetoric implying/accusing U.S. Registry folks as being a major cause of Sex Tourism crimes.

The comment by Ms. Berkley (D-NV-1), and she said:

"Between 2003 and 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cooperated with INTERPOL and foreign law enforcement agencies to investigate cases of the sexual exploitation of children abroad, obtaining 73 convictions for such crimes committed in other countries."

Those 73 crimes were all that could be found to support what the speakers were saying, excepting rhetoric accusing or implying U.S. RSOs were the bad guys. Today we have the answer, the real truth why the speakers were vague about the number of crimes committed and who commits them.

Yesterday the "Department of Justice Released First National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction" (Click link to read). They also released a Report (279 pages 2.77meg VERY LARGE) which is the subject of this commentary. Within that report is our answer as to why the Congressional Speakers were vague.

The Report: The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, A Report to Congress, August 2010 (PDF 279 pgs). Essentially this is a "Threat Assessment" report to Congress, and is explained as follows:

"This Report attempts to marshal a massive amount of information about the nature of the child exploitation problem and the significant efforts being undertaken by federal, state, and local agencies to address this epidemic. To evaluate the extent and forms of child exploitation, between approximately February 2009 and February 2010, the National Drug Intelligence Center (“NDIC”) prepared a threat assessment (the “Threat Assessment” or “Assessment”) that is summarized in this Report.

In conducting the Threat Assessment, NDIC interviewed over a hundred prosecutors, investigators, and other experts in the field, conducted interviews to collect information, reviewed thousands of pages of documents from investigations, cases, relevant research, and analyzed data from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children." p-2 Report

Now their definition of "Sex Tourism" the crime Congress implied all U.S. RSOs of:

Child Sex Tourism: “Child sex tourism” refers to Americans or U.S. resident aliens traveling abroad for the purpose of sexually abusing foreign children (usually in economically disadvantaged countries). Americans, capitalizing on their relative wealth and the lack of effective law enforcement in the destination countries, easily purchase access to young children to engage in illicit sex acts, sometimes for as little as $5. Like child pornography and other Internet-facilitated crimes against children, the Internet has revolutionized the child sex tourism industry.

As a result, a new, emboldened crop of offenders are finding the navigation of travel in developing countries much easier than in the past. Additionally, the Internet allows like-minded offenders to gather and exchange information on how and where to find child victims in these foreign locations, making the offenders better informed about where sex tourism is prevalent and where law enforcement is lax. Numerous countries in Southeast Asia are so well-known for child sex tourism that there are entire neighborhoods which are considered brothels, and there are open-air markets where children can be purchased for sex. p-11 Report

Folks, that is a terrible implication which causes further hysteria over registrants, especially when it is not true, and even Romeo & Juliet crimes were being accused of that, as they too are part of the U.S. Registry.

Yesterday's Report covered eight different types of crimes, child sex tourism (CST) was one. CST is our concern because that alone was the basis of Congressional Speakers that FAST-TRACKED IML through the House on 7-27-2010 under the "suspension of the rules."

Accordingly, IML is based on "beliefs" of experts and "data" from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). That is the evidence behind IML, beliefs and data:

NCMEC data: Cyber Tipline, tips alone, not just those that resulted from some sort of investigation or criminal prosecution; tips alone. Anyone can call that Tipline and claim something happened, and whether or not there was truth behind that tip, it formed the basis for IML. This is unbelievable, tips are not crimes nor are they evidence of one!

Expert Beliefs: Here again, not specific cases or a specific number of convictions, just the beliefs of these experts. Prosecutors, investigators and other experts in the field. Their beliefs only!

Doesn't anyone believe in real evidence? Some numbers that can be verified, something tangible and verifiable! I have no doubt sex tourism is going on, but, by who, doesn't evidence count for something in Congress? I am getting the feeling that the U.S. is trying to become the savior of the world, and who they destroy in the process means nothing. OK, lets see charts from the Report:

SEX TOURISM (Appendix D-25)
Nature and Extent Among NDIC interviewees:

• 50 percent of respondents reported that their agency has not investigated or prosecuted any sex tourism cases.

• 25 percent of respondents reported that they encounter sex tourism cases very infrequently.

• 15 percent of respondents reported that sex tourism is a major vulnerability and there is potential for it to become a huge industry. The area deserves more attention than it has received.

U.S. Citizen and Resident Alien (RA) Involvement in Sex Tourism
Among NDIC interviewees:

• 35 percent of respondents reported that it is believed that the extent to which U.S. citizens and RAs are engaging in sex tourism is significant.

• 35 percent of respondents reported that the extent to which U.S. citizens and RAs are engaging in sex tourism is unknown because there is no data available on the topic.

Locations where U.S. Citizens and RAs are Engaging in Sex Tourism
Among NDIC interviewees:

• 67 percent of respondents reported that Thailand is a popular sex tourism destination.

• 56 percent of respondents reported that Mexico is a popular sex tourism destination.

• 44 percent of respondents reported that the Philippines are a popular sex tourism
destination.

• 44 percent of respondents reported that Asian countries are popular sex tourism
destinations.

• 33 percent of respondents reported that Cambodia is a popular sex tourism destination.

• 22 percent of respondents reported that third world impoverished countries and
developing countries are popular sex tourism destinations.

Folks, you can read, there is no need for me to repeat what is above, Congress doesn't have a shred of evidence that U.S. registrants are causing, or even participating in, sex tourism. So everything said before the U.S. House was hogwash, at least as to implying sex tourism is caused by registrants of U.S. registries.

The credibility of speeches made in the U.S. House on July 27, 2010 are definitely questionable, as they pertain to former registered sex offenders of U.S. registries! Now, a few times within the Report is mentioned, that, it is believed that 25% of sex tourism emanates from the United States. Assuming the truth of that statement, its is not coming from registrants of U.S. registries; is it possible these are new sex offenders, never before convicted of a sex crime? Not according to Congress.

In Part-1 of this "Expose" the Congressional Budget office estimated (estimated, again no evidence) that, some 10,000 RSO are likely to travel internationally annually. Congress also mentioned that, 4,500 passport were issued to registered sex offenders in 2008. Congress used those figures to imply that, RSOs travel for the purpose of criminal activity.

Well folks, how come they cannot come up with any documented cases of RSO convictions for sex tourism crimes? Congress was vague because the truth is RSOs are not involved in such crimes, they merely took vacations. Vacations, simply do not enter the minds of Congress when thinking about RSOs.

Have a great day and a better tomorrow.
eAdvocate

PS: There are links to everything above, and folks can read the Report, all 279 pages. Enjoy.