Hatch Sex Offender Bills Clears Senate Judiciary Commitee

HATCH SEX OFFENDER BILL CLEARS SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved legislation sponsored by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and championed by Ed Smart, father of Elizabeth Smart, to overhaul the nation's sex offender laws.

"For too long, too many sex offenders have been treated like petty criminals," Hatch said. "As a result, too many children and too many lives have been lost. These pedophiles prey on our children and will continue to do so unless stopped."

Prior to 1994, just five states required convicted sex offenders to register their addresses with local law enforcement. Today there are over 550,000 registered sex offenders in the United States. Unfortunately, most of these receive and serve limited sentences and roam unchecked and unknown in the community. Hatch's bill, S. 1086, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, would place the responsibility on sex offenders to register with local authorities and require them to notify those authorities when they move or change jobs. If they do not comply, they will go to jail.

"This bill is simple," Hatch said. "Those who break such a sacred trust and intend to harm our children, no matter who they are, where they are from, or where they commit their crime, will have obligations under this law to make their whereabouts known voluntarily or subject themselves to additional jail time.

Hatch worked closely with Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), Ed Smart, and other prominent advocates in pushing this legislation through Congress, which integrates more than 20 years of legislation into a comprehensive quilt of laws governing the treatment of sex offenders.

"We have a responsibility to keep our children safe and make people accountable for their actions," said Smart, who joined Hatch at today's committee meeting. "Right now, you really don't know who's coming into your state and how bad they are. This bill creates consistency. This is an issue that we can't just deal with on a state-by-state basis to protect our children. We have to take steps to make it consistent across the country."

Under this bill, sex offenders and predators will be required to register in person, versus mailing in a letter and States will be given grant money to outfit sex offenders with tracking devices. The bill also enables states to offer citizens a searchable, statewide sex offender registry that interacts with all other states to provide seamless registration and notification across the country.

http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=1460&Month=10&Year=2005