Senate Passes Cornyn-Blumenthal Child Protection Act of 2012
Last edited Wed Nov 28, 2012, 04:17 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: By John Cornyn at Nov 28, 2012 8:41 AM
The Senate passed the Child Protection Act of 2012, introduced in the Senate by U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
The bipartisan legislation seeks to protect young victims of child pornography, sexual abuse, and trafficking by strengthening law enforcements ability to protect victims and witnesses and apprehend perpetrators. It includes several important anti-human trafficking provisions authored by me and originally included in the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2011, legislation I introduced along with Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).The Child Protection Act has now passed both the Senate and House of Representatives and awaits the Presidents signature.
We need to provide law enforcement with every tool they need to crack down on the most vile criminals child sex predators and traffickers and protect the innocent young people who fall victim to these heinous crimes. This is an issue we can all agree on, and Im pleased Congress has passed this important measure in a bipartisan fashion. I hope the President will sign this bill swiftly to bring greater justice and protection to victims and allow law enforcement to take immediate steps to stop child predators and traffickers in their tracks.
More.
Read more: http://www.texasgopvote.com/issues/restore-families/senate-passes-cornyn-blumenthal-child-protection-act-2012-004867
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)VICTORY! Yesterday our Child Protection Act of 2012 passed Congress. Today it's on its way to President Obama's desk for signing. This was a major bipartisan victory, and a direct result of your support for PROTECT! We especially thank Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)...
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More: http://bit.ly/TsrHyt
The new law includes several measures that our allies have been trying unsuccessfully to pass for years. Here are the highlights:
Reauthorizes our PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008 ( http://protect.org/component/content/article/702 ), approving double today's child rescue funding for America's Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces. These task forces rescue thousands of children every year
Tough new penalties for threatening or harassing a child witness in child abuse and exploitation cases (this was vigorously opposed by some)
New fast-track administrative subpoenas for U.S. Marshals searching for fugitive sex offenders
Increased penalties of up to 20 years for distribution or receipt of child abuse images, when the victim is under 12
Many Americans just assume that passing laws like this is easy. After all, who's not against child abuse?
But PROTECT members know better...
Exciting news! BTW, VP Biden was the Senate co-sponsor of the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)Also relevant to locked thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014319676
Talking Points and Frequently Asked Questions for Organizers and Public Speakers
Child Rescue Emergency Campaign
Not One More Child
November 2011
Whats Happening Now
A national coalition of groups, the Not One More Child Coalition ( http://www.notonemorechild.org/ ), has launched a national campaign for child rescue, kicked off by the release of a new public service ad.
http://vimeo.com/31974447
The ad features child abduction survivors Elizabeth Smart and Alicia Kozakiewicz [pronounced: Ko-zuh-kev-itch] and was produced by a team led by Len Fink, creator of the Coca Cola polar bears.
Alicia, Elizabeth and the Coalition are calling upon President Obama and all 50 Governors to declare a state of emergency (or disaster) to rescue children from of hundreds of thousands of child pornography traffickers known to law enforcement.
Background: The Crisis
Law enforcement has identified hundreds of thousands of suspects in the U.S., trafficking in video and images of young children being raped, tortured and sexually abused. These images are often called child pornography, but they are actually crime scene photos and child rape videos.
The U.S. Department of Justice testified before Congress that there are hundreds of thousands of criminals in the U.S. engaged in child pornography crimes. The FBI testified these individuals have hundreds of thousands of child victims (not all victims are victims of child pornography; many are sexual assault victims of individuals who happen to also have child abuse images). Video of testimony:
http://vimeo.com/31828582
These suspects have not only been identified and logged in government databases, their locations have even been plotted on satellite maps. These maps are the subject of the Not One More Child ad campaign.
Very conservative estimates indicate at least 1 in 3 of these known suspects is a hands-on offender, sexually assaulting children in his community. (Compare UNH Study: http://www.nsvrc.org/publications/reports/child-pornography-possessors-arrested-internet-related-crimes-findings-national , Butner Study: http://protect.org/resources/1482-the-butner-study-redux-a-report-of-the-incidence-of-hands-on-child-victimization-by-child-pornography-offenders )
By analyzing their ocean of leads, law enforcement can zero in on those suspects who are most likely to have local victims, with a high degree of accuracy. That means for the first time in history, we have the means to detect, locate and stop child predators on a massive scale and find and help their victims.
Our Governments Refusal to Provide First Responders
Yet, while authorities now know where these child predators areand in many cases have evidence leading to the doorstep of their victimsless than 2% are even being investigated, due to lack of resources.
As a direct result of this failure to protect, thousands of children are being raped, tortured and sexually abused every night in entirely predictable and preventable attacks.
Important Note: Who are these children? Some, like Alicia, are victims of child pornographers or abductors. Most are victims of abuse in their own families and by trusted adults. The important thing is that they can be found if their abusers uploaded, downloaded or shared child abuse images on the Internet.
Even those suspects who are not contact offenders are committing terrible human rights crimes against children, turning them into sexual commodities and creating a crushing market demand for more children to be raped and abused to supply their child pornography product.
Why Declare a State of Emergency?
Because it IS an emergency, and action cannot wait. Thousands of children are being raped, tortured and sexually exploited right now, and law enforcement knows where they are but is not rescuing them. They need search and rescue underway, immediately!
Because Congress has refused to act. And members of Congress have proven they WILL not act, even when presented with maps showing child rape victims in their own districts. The same can be said of state legislatures. Executive branch action is needed.
Because emergency powers are absolutely required to cope with the scale of this emergency. When the President or a Governor declare an emergency, two things happen. First, they can waive regulations and red tape that prevent swift action. Second, they can use all of the financial resources of government.
Without an emergency declaration, no single agency of government has the resources to cope with the emergency. There is not time to hire and train large numbers of new cops for ICAC task forces, for example, nor will that happen. An emergency gives the President or Governor the authority to pull police in from many agencies and mount a coordinated response.
Because every day we fail to act, more children will be assaulted.
But isnt calling for a state of emergency a little extreme or naive?
Absolutely not. What is naive is believing that Congress or state legislatures will fund law enforcement properly and in time to secure the rescue of hundreds of thousands of children who are being tortured and abused right now.
Governors have declared states of emergency to respond to gray wolves, bad fishing seasons, price gouging at the gas pumps and crime along the Mexico border. Presidents have invoked emergency powers on behalf of the human rights of people in Serbia, the Congo and Syria. (see White Paper)
In California, nine counties have called upon the Governor to declare a state of emergency over quaggas, an invasive species of mussel.
Many government and political insiders will scoff at the idea of a state of emergency, implying it is naive and totally impractical. Remember that the vast majority of these people will have little or no experience with the issue at all. They really just dont know what theyre talking about. The handful of government employees who have dealt with emergency declarations will know full well they are routinely declared for far less important crises.
Some critics will say thatwhile terriblechild exploitation is not a true emergency, like a hurricane that strikes with little notice. But in 2005, the Governors of Arizona and New Mexico declared states of emergency to deal with long-simmering crime problems along the Mexico border.
Other Talking Points:
This is a fiscally conservative argument. This campaign is not asking for increased funds (although funds absolutely should be). We are asking for states and the federal government to use EXISTING resources.
Some people might have difficulty believing there are really hundreds of thousands of criminals at large who are trafficking in child abuse images. Heres a frame of reference that might help: There are over 700,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S., and the majority had child victims. These sex offenders who are tagged and released are clearly just the tip of the iceberg. So hundreds of thousands of criminals trafficking in child rape video should not surprise anyone. The U.S. Justice Department has confirmed this (see link above).
Some people might have difficulty believing there are really hundreds of thousands of child victims. Heres a frame of reference for that: If there are 300,000 individuals producing, distributing or possessing child abuse images (a very conservative estimate), and 1 in 3 is a hands-on offender (a very conservative estimate), then these individuals would have 100,000 victims if they only had an average of 1 victim each. All research indicates these predators have many more victims than that.
Remember, you dont have to be an expert on any of this. Just a citizen who demands immediate action to rescue children in peril.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)Response to proverbialwisdom (Original post)
REP This message was self-deleted by its author.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release December 07, 2012
Statement by the Press Secretary on H.R. 915, H.R. 6063, H.R. 6634
On Friday, December 7, 2012, the President signed into law:
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H.R. 6063, the Child Protection Act of 2012, which makes changes to the Criminal Code related to child pornography and protection of child witnesses and Department of Justice programs related to prevention and interdiction of child exploitation and child pornography on the Internet; and
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PHOTO: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=494510373926721&set=a.160060797371682.34863.110806432297119&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/signed-legislation
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.6063: