President Signs Hatch's Sex Offender Bill into Law

PRESIDENT SIGNS HATCH'S SEX OFFENDER BILL INTO LAW

Washington - Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) attended the White House signing ceremony today for The Adam Walsh Act, a measure that will increase penalties for sex-crimes against children and require convicted sex offenders to register their whereabouts in person every month or face additional jail time. Elizabeth Smart and her father, Ed - longtime advocates and spokespeople for the law - attended the ceremony.

"This is a great victory for America's children," Hatch said. "And yet, it should be noted that we in Utah celebrate this victory in the shadow of a horrible injustice. The accused murder of 5-year-old Destiny Norton is a dark reminder that we need to do more to protect our children. With this new law, we will. Parents will know where convicted sex offenders are, and police will have the legal muscle to catch those who are hiding from us."

The Adam Walsh Act is the final version of Hatch's sex-offender registry and notification bill (S. 1086), which passed the Senate by unanimous consent in May. President Bush chose today for the signing because it is the 25th year anniversary of the abduction and subsequent murder of Adam Walsh, son of John Walsh, who is the host of "America's Most Wanted."

The Hatch legislation will also create within the Department of Justice the SMART office specifically targeting sex offenders. An acronym for Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registration, Tracking, the SMART office is also a tribute to the Smart family for their lobbying efforts on behalf of this and other recent child-protection legislation.

http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=1628&Month=7&Year=2006