WikiLeaks Document Release http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22646 February 2, 2009 Congressional Research Service Report RS22646 Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act: A Sketch Charles Doyle, American Law Division April 17, 2007 Abstract. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, P.L. 109-248 (H.R. 4472), serves four purposes. It reformulates the federal standards for sex offender registration in state, territorial and tribal sexual offender registries, and does so in a manner designed to make the system more uniform, more inclusive, more informative and more readily available to the public online. It amends federal criminal law and procedure, featuring a federal procedure for the civil commitment of sex offenders, random search authority over sex offenders on probation or supervised release, a number of new federal crimes, and sentencing enhancements for existing federal offenses. It creates, amends, or revives several grant programs designed to reinforce private, state, local, tribal and territorial prevention; law enforcement; and treatment efforts in the case of crimes committed against children. It calls for a variety of administrative or regulatory initiatives in the interest of child safety, such as the creation of the National Child Abuse Registry. ¢ ¢ http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22646 Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress ¢ ¢ The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, P.L. 109-248 (H.R. 4472), serves four purposes. It reformulates the federal standards for sex offender registration in state, territorial and tribal sexual offender registries, and does so in a manner designed to make the system more uniform, more inclusive, more informative and more readily available to the public online. It amends federal criminal law and procedure, featuring a federal procedure for the civil commitment of sex offenders, random search authority over sex offenders on probation or supervised release, a number of new federal crimes, and sentencing enhancements for existing federal offenses. It creates, amends, or revives several grant programs designed to reinforce private, state, local, tribal and territorial prevention; law enforcement; and treatment efforts in the case of crimes committed against children. It calls for a variety of administrative or regulatory initiatives in the interest of child safety, such as the creation of the National Child Abuse Registry. This is an abridged version of CRS Report RL33967, Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act: A Legal Analysis, by Charles Doyle, without the footnotes and citations to authority found in the longer report. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22646 ¢ Sex Offender Registration................................................................................................... 1 Adjustments in Federal Criminal Law................................................................................ 2 Grant Programs ................................................................................................................... 4 Other Child Safety Initiatives ............................................................................................. 5 Author Contact Information ............................................................................................................ 5 http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22646 ¢ ¡ Earlier federal law, the Jacob Wetterling Act, encouraged the states to establish and maintain a registration system. Each of them has done so. The Walsh Act preserves the basis structure of the earlier law, expands upon it, and makes more specific matters that were previously left to individual choice. For purposes of compliance by the states and other jurisdictions the prior law remains in effect until the later of three years after enactment or one year after the necessary software for the new uniform, online system has become available. For registrants, however, the new requirements became effective upon enactment. The class of offenders required to register has been expanded under the act. The group includes anyone found in the United States and previously convicted of a federal, state, local, tribal, military, or foreign qualifying offense, although strictly speaking violations of the laws of the District of Columbia or U.S. territories are not specifically mentioned as qualifying offenses. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22646 Offenders must register in each state or territory in which they live, work, or attend school. There are five classes of qualifying offenses: crimes identified as one of the specific offenses against a minor; crimes in which some sexual act or sexual conduct is an element; designated federal sex offenses; specified military offenses; and attempts or conspiracy to commit any offense in the other four classes of qualifying offenses. The inventory of qualifying offenses is subject to exception. Conviction for an otherwise qualifying foreign offense does not necessitate registration if it was not secured in a manner which satisfies minimal due process requirements under guidelines or regulations promulgated by the Attorney General. Nor does conviction of a consensual sex offense require registration if the victim is an adult not in the custody of the offender, or if the victim is 13 years of age or older and the offender no more than four years older. Finally, juvenile delinquency adjudications do not constitute qualifying convictions unless the offender is 14 years of age or older at the time of the misconduct and the misconduct adjudicated is comparable to, or more severe than, aggravated sexual assault or attempt or conspiracy to commit such an offense. There are no specific limitations on registration based on convictions that have been overturned, sealed or expunged under state or foreign law or on convictions for which the offender has been pardoned. There are no specific limitations on requirements that flow from past convictions regardless of their vintage. Instead, the Attorney General is authorized to promulgate rules of applicability. Those required to register must provide their name, social security number, the name and address of their employers, the name and address of places where they attend school, and the license plate numbers and descriptions of vehicles they own or operate. The jurisdiction of registration must also include a physical description and current photograph of the registrant and a copy of his driver's license or government issued identification card; a set of fingerprints, palm prints, and a DNA sample; the text of the law under which he was convicted; a criminal record that includes the dates of any arrests and convictions, any outstanding warrants, as well as parole, probation, supervisory release, and registration status; and any other information required by the Attorney General. The regularity with which registrants must appear for new photographs and to verify their registration information depends upon their status. It is at least every three months for Tier III offenders. Tier II offenders must reappear no less frequently than every six months. Tier I ¢ offenders must reappear for new photographs and verification at least once a year. Tier I offenders must maintain their registration for 15 years, which can be reduced to 10 years. Tier II offenders must maintain their registration for 25 years. Tier III offenders must maintain their registration for life, which can be reduced to 25 years. ¢ Jurisdictions that fail to comply after the act becomes fully effective run the risk of having their Byrne program funds reduced by 10%. The act makes failure to register a federal crime for offenders convicted of a federal qualifying offense, or who travel in interstate commerce, or who travel in Indian country, or who live in Indian country. Violations are punishable by imprisonment for not more than 10 years and by an addition penalty to be served consecutively of not less than five nor more than 30 years if the offender commits a crime of violence. Moreover, violation exposes an offenders to term of supervised release for any term of years not less than five years or for life. If the offender is a foreign national ("an alien"), he becomes deportable upon conviction. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22646 The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act is focused, as its name implies, upon child protection and safety. Its efforts involve the creation of new federal crimes, the enhancement of the penalties for preexisting federal crimes, and the amendment of federal criminal procedure, among other things. Many of these efforts are child-specific; some are more general. The new federal crimes include the following. · Murder in the course of a wider range of federal sex offenses. · Internet date rape drug trafficking. · Kidnaping that involves the use of interstate facilities. · Child abuse in Indian country. · Production of obscene material. · Obscenity or pornography in Internet source codes. · Child exploitation enterprises. The amendments to federal criminal procedure are a bit more numerous and somewhat more likely to implicate crimes in addition to those committed against children. Among their number are: · Random searches of sex offender registrants as a condition of probation or supervised release. · Expanded DNA collection from those facing federal charges or convicted of any federal offense. · Elimination of the statute of limitations for various sexual crimes or crimes committed against a child. · Participation of state crime victims in federal habeas proceedings. · Study of the elimination of marital privileges in abuse cases. )b(2522 .C.S.U 81 ,nerdlihc ni gnikciffart xes rof noitcivnoc laredef ro etats )2()b( 602§ sraey 02 naht erom roirp a htiw redneffo na yb lairetam ,sraey 04 naht erom ton/sraey 51 naht ssel toN ton/sraey evif naht ssel toN evitiolpxe yllauxes dlihc ni ciffarT )e(1522 )C()1()b(602§ ,efil rof ro sraey efil rof ro sraey fo mret yna .C.S.U 81 ,htaed ni gnitluser 03 naht ssel ton rof tnemnosirpmi ro htaeD rof tnemnosirpmi ro htaeD dlihc a fo noitatiolpxe lauxeS )e(1522 .C.S.U 81 ,yhpargonrop dlihc ro ,draw a fo tcatnoc lauxes ,esuba lauxes rof noitcivnoc etats a ro gnikciffart xes rof noitcivnoc )B( sraey 03 naht erom laredef roirp a htiw redneffo ,)A()1()b(602§ ,efil rof ro sraey 03 naht ssel toN ton/sraey 51 naht ssel toN na yb dlihc a fo noitatiolpxe lauxeS )2(602§ ,))5( )1()a(4422 .C.S.U 81 )a(4422 .C.S.U 81( efil rof ro sraey fo mret ynA sraey 01 naht erom toN ,dlihc a htiw tcatnoc lauxes evisubA )c(1422 .C.S.U 81 )1()a(602§ ,efil rof ro sraey 03 naht ssel toN efil rof ro sraey fo mret ynA ,dlihc a fo esuba lauxes detavarggA )a(2422 .C.S.U 81 ,evalcne 502§ ,efil rof ro sraey fo mret ynA sraey 02 naht erom toN ro nosirp laredef a ni esuba lauxeS )a(3242 .C.S.U 402§ sraey 03 naht erom 81 ,ytivitca lauxes rof ecremmoc ,efil naht erom ton/sraey 01 naht ssel toN ton/sraey evif naht ssel toN etatsretni ni dlihc a gnitropsnarT )b(2242.C.S.U 81 ,seitivitca lauxes ni egagne ot 302§ sraey 03 naht erom dlihc a ecitne ro ecreoc ot seitilicaf ,efil naht erom ton/sraey 01 naht ssel toN ton/sraey evif naht ssel toN ecremmoc etatsretni/liam fo esU weN :tnemnosirpmI roirP :tnemnosirpmI emirC of violence. The act increases penalties for several other child offenses including: child and when the misconduct involves the intentional killing of the victim or a reckless, fatal act statutes that heretofore were punishable only by a term of imprisonment when the victim is a maximum. The provision has the effect of making capital offenses out of several federal murder http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22646 higher mandatory minimum, the new maximum penalties trump any otherwise applicable years. While the new minimums terms of imprisonment must yield to any otherwise applicable and in the case of aggravated assault, imprisonment for life or any term of years not less than 10 case of kidnaping or maiming, imprisonment for life or any term of years not less than 25 years; imprisonment for any term of years not less than 30 years, imprisonment for life, or death; in the maiming, or aggravated assault when the victim is a child. In the case of murder, the penalty is and procedure. It establishes new sentencing ranges for the federal crimes of murder, kidnaping, The act's penalty enhancements are the most extensive of its amendments to federal criminal law Civil commitment procedure for federal sex offenders. · Murder during course of various sex offenses as a felony murder predicate. · Forfeiture procedures in obscenity, exploitation and pornography cases. · Government control of evidence in pornography cases. · Compensation for guardians ad litem. · Preventive detention in cases involving a minor victim or a firearm. · ¢ FY2009). monitoring devices (authorizing appropriations totaling $15 million through State, local and tribal governments in order to outfit sex offenders with electronic · through FY2010). National Police Athletic League (authorizing appropriations totaling $64 million · million through FY2011). Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (authorizing appropriations totaling $58.5 · community safety, including the following. 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Among them are sections that broaden access to federal criminal records information systems, create a national child abuse registry, expand recordkeeping requirements for those in the business of producing sexually explicit material, immunize officials from civil liability for activities involving sexual offender registration, and authorize and direct the Department of Justice to establish and maintain a number of child protective activities. Charles Doyle Senior Specialist in American Public Law cdoyle@crs.loc.gov, 7-6968