The Adam Walsh Child Protection & Safety Act of 2006
Adam Walsh was kidnapped from a shopping mall in Florida. He was found murdered 16 days after his abduction, and the perpetrator of the crime has yet to be found. Adam Walsh’s father is John Walsh, host of the television series America’s Most Wanted. John Walsh is also founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
On July 27, 2006 President Bush signed this. This law marked an important step forward in our Nation’s efforts to protect those who cannot protect themselves. It strengthens Federal laws to protect our children from sexual and other violent crimes, prevent child pornography, and make the Internet safer for our sons and daughters.
This act does 3 things:
1. Expands the National Sex Offender Registry
a. It combines state sex offender registries
b. The info is then made available to the public
2. Strengthens Federal Penalties For Crimes Against Children.
a. The bill imposes tough mandatory minimum penalties for the most serious crimes against children and increases penalties for crimes such as sex trafficking of children and child prostitution.
b. It also provides grants to States to help them institutionalize sex offenders who have shown they cannot change their behavior and are about to be released from prison.
3. Makes It Harder For Sex Predators To Reach Our Children On The Internet.
a. The bill authorizes new regional Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforces that will provide funding and training to help State and local law enforcement combat crimes involving the sexual exploitation of minors on the Internet.
Facts
1. Gives the U.S. Attorney General the authority to apply the law retroactively (cf. ex post facto law).
2.Establishes a national database which will incorporate the use of DNA evidence collection and DNA registry and tracking of convicted sex offenders with Global Positioning System technology.
3. Increases the mandatory minimum incarceration period of 25 years for kidnapping or maiming a child and 30 years for sex with a child younger than 12 or for sexually assaulting a child between 13 and 17 years old.
4. Increases the penalties for sex trafficking of children and child prostitution.
5. Widens federal funding to assist local law enforcement in tracking sexual exploitation of minors on the Internet.
6. Creates a National Child Abuse Registry to protect children from being adopted by convicted child abusers.
