Children's Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act of 2006

CHILDREN'S SAFETY AND VIOLENT CRIME REDUCTION ACT OF 2006 -- (House of Representatives - March 08, 2006)

Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 4472, the Children's Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act. Once again, this Congress is attempting to address very serious and complicated problems with a law that substitutes the talking points of "tough on crime" politicians for the wisdom of judges, prosecutors, treatment professionals and child advocates. As a father and someone who has fought for better foster care, education, and health care for children, I object to this ill-conceived legislation that is as much an attack on our independent judiciary as it is a bill to protect kids.

Many child advocates themselves oppose this bill because kids in grade school or junior high will be swept up alongside paroled adults in sex offender registries. Many caught in registries would be 13 and 14 year olds. In some states, children 10 and under would be registered.

This bill creates new mandatory minimum sentences, which impose the judgment of Congress over every case, regardless of the circumstances. The Judicial Conference of the United States and the U.S. Sentencing Commission have found that mandatory minimums actually have the opposite of their intended effect. They "destroy honesty in sentencing by encouraging plea bargains." They treat dissimilar offenders in a similar manner, even though there are vast differences in the seriousness of their conduct and their danger to society. Judges serve a very important role in criminal justice, and Congress should not attempt to do their job for them.

Finally, this bill expands the death penalty, which is not a deterrent, costs more to implement than life imprisonment, and runs the risk of executing the innocent.

Nobody, especially the parents and victims of sexual abuse who have contacted me on this issue, should confuse my objections to this bad policy with indifference to the problem of child sex abuse in this country. It is a huge problem, affecting millions of American children. Recent news stories prove that the registry system isn't working well.

I support aspects of this bill, including a strengthened nationwide registry for pedophiles, with strict requirements for reporting changes of address and punishments for failing to report. I support establishing treatment programs for sex offenders in prison, background checks for foster parents, funding for computer systems to track sex crimes involving the Internet, and, at last resort, procedures for committing sexually dangerous persons to secure treatment facilities.

However, I cannot violate my Constitutional duty to protect our independent judiciary nor can I support extreme, dangerous policies, so I will vote against this bill. I hope that, working with the Senate, we can improve this legislation and implement the policies that everyone agrees are needed without the unintended consequences of the bill in its current form.

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