Children's Safety Act of 2005
CHILDREN'S SAFETY ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - September 14, 2005)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 436 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill, H.R. 3132.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COSTA. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to speak in support of the Children's Safety Act. This legislation will close sexual offender registration loopholes and punish offenders who do not follow the law.
Sadly, every year hundreds of children are victimized by a convicted sexual offender. Convicted predators should be put in prison where they belong and kept away from our Nation's children. The Children's Safety Act, H.R. 3132, will do this. These tougher sentences will lock up repeat offenders and help keep our children safe. Because we know the recidivism rate of sexual offenders is very high, these longer sentences are crucial to protecting our children. We must hold these sexual offenders accountable and lock them up.
A National Sex Offender Registry, which is one of the components of the Children's Safety Act, will better enable us to protect our children. People have a right to know where sex offenders live and it is important for parents to have access to a national registry in order to make sure their children are safe.
In addition, to punishing sexual offenders and protecting our children, we must also provide services, resources and counseling to the people who are victims of these horrible crimes. Children need help healing the wounds caused by the heinous actions of sexual offenders. We must not forget their needs. Because the needs of victims are so crucial, I along with Congressman Ted Poe and Congresswoman Katherine Harris have formed the Victims' Rights Caucus. Through the caucus we draw attention to victim issues, work to protect funding that provides victims' services and introduce legislation to assist with victims. We must not forget the victims of crimes, especially when they are children.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
http://thomas.loc.gov