IIA

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 324

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 20 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993

Received

NOVEMBER 23, 1993

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

AN ACT

To require any person who is convicted of a State criminal

offense against a victim who is a minor to register a

current address with law enforcement officials of the

State for 10 years after release from prison, parole,

or supervision.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Jacob Wetterling

5 Crimes Against Children Registration Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—

8 (1) STATE GUIDELINES.—The Attorney General

9 shall establish guidelines for State programs requir-
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1 ing any person who is convicted of a criminal offense

2 against a victim who is a minor to register a current

3 address with a designated State law enforcement

4 agency for 10 years after release from prison, or

5 being placed on parole, supervised release, or proba6 tion.

7 (2) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this sub8 section, the term ‘‘criminal offense against a victim

9 who is a minor’’ means any criminal offense that

10 consists of—

11 (A) kidnapping of a minor, except by a

12 parent;

13 (B) false imprisonment of a minor, except

14 by a parent;

15 (C) criminal sexual conduct toward a

16 minor;

17 (D) solicitation of a minor to engage in

18 sexual conduct;

19 (E) use of a minor in a sexual perform20 ance;

21 (F) solicitation of a minor to practice pros22 titution;

23 (G) any conduct that by its nature is a

24 sexual offense against a minor; or
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1 (H) an attempt to commit an offense de2 scribed in any of subparagraphs (A) through

3 (G) of this paragraph, if the State—

4 (i) makes such an attempt a criminal

5 offense; and

6 (ii) chooses to include such an offense

7 in those which are criminal offenses

8 against a victim who is a minor for the

9 purposes of this section.

10 (b) REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT UPON RELEASE,

11 PAROLE, SUPERVISED RELEASE, OR PROBATION.—An

12 approved State registration program established under

13 this section shall contain the following requirements:

14 (1) DUTY OF STATE PRISON OFFICIAL OR

15 COURT.—If a person who is required to register

16 under this section is released from prison, or placed

17 on parole, supervised release, or probation, a State

18 prison officer, or in the case of probation, the court,

19 shall—

20 (A) inform the person of the duty to reg21 ister and obtain the information required for

22 such registration;

23 (B) inform the person that if the person

24 changes residence address, the person shall give
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1 the new address to a designated State law en2 forcement agency in writing within 10 days;

3 (C) inform the person that if the person

4 changes residence to another State, the person

5 shall register the new address with the law en6 forcement agency with whom the person last

7 registered, and the person is also required to

8 register with a designated law enforcement

9 agency in the new State not later than 10 days

10 after establishing residence in the new State, if

11 the new State has a registration requirement;

12 (D) obtain fingerprints and a photograph

13 of the person if these have not already been ob14 tained in connection with the offense that trig15 gers registration; and

16 (E) require the person to read and sign a

17 form stating that the duty of the person to reg18 ister under this section has been explained.

19 (2) TRANSFER OF INFORMATION TO STATE AND

20 THE F.B.I.—The officer, or in the case of a person

21 placed on probation, the court, shall, within 3 days

22 after receipt of information described in paragraph

23 (1), forward it to a designated State law enforce24 ment agency. The State law enforcement agency

25 shall immediately enter the information into the ap-
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1 propriate State law enforcement record system and

2 notify the appropriate law enforcement agency hav3 ing jurisdiction where the person expects to reside.

4 The State law enforcement agency shall also imme5 diately transmit the conviction data and fingerprints

6 to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

7 (3) ANNUAL VERIFICATION.—On each anniver8 sary of a person’s initial registration date during the

9 period in which the person is required to register

10 under this section, the designated State law enforce11 ment agency shall mail a nonforwardable verification

12 form to the last reported address of the person. The

13 person shall mail the verification form to the des14 ignated State law enforcement agency within 10

15 days after receipt of the form. The verification form

16 shall be signed by the person, and state that the per17 son still resides at the address last reported to the

18 designated State law enforcement agency. If the per19 son fails to mail the verification form to the des20 ignated State law enforcement agency within 10

21 days after receipt of the form, the person shall be

22 in violation of this section unless the person proves

23 that the person has not changed his or her residence

24 address.
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1 (4) NOTIFICATION OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCE2 MENT AGENCIES OF CHANGES IN ADDRESS.—Any

3 change of address by a person required to register

4 under this section reported to the designated State

5 law enforcement agency shall immediately be re6 ported to the appropriate law enforcement agency

7 having jurisdiction where the person is residing. The

8 designated law enforcement agency shall, if the per9 son changes residence to another State, notify the

10 person of the law enforcement agency with which the

11 person must register in the new State, if the new

12 State has a registration requirement.

13 (5) PRIVACY OF DATA.—The information col14 lected under a State registration program shall be

15 treated as private data on individuals and may be

16 disclosed only to law enforcement agencies for inves17 tigative purposes or to government agencies conduct18 ing confidential background checks with fingerprints

19 on applicants for child care positions or other posi20 tions involving contact with children.

21 (c) REGISTRATION FOR CHANGE OF ADDRESS TO

22 ANOTHER STATE.—A person who has been convicted of

23 an offense which triggered registration in a State shall

24 register the new address with a designated law enforce25 ment agency in another State to which the person moves
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1 not later than 10 days after such person establishes resi2 dence in the new State, if the new State has a registration

3 requirement.

4 (d) REGISTRATION FOR 10 YEARS.—A person re5 quired to register under this section shall continue to com6 ply with this section until 10 years have elapsed since the

7 person was released from prison, or placed on parole, su8 pervised release, or probation.

9 (e) PENALTY.—A person required to register under

10 a State program established pursuant to this section who

11 knowingly fails to so register and keep such registration

12 current shall be subject to criminal penalties in any State

13 in which the person has so failed.

14 (f) COMPLIANCE.—

15 (1) COMPLIANCE DATE.—Each State shall have

16 3 years from the date of the enactment of this Act

17 in which to implement this section.

18 (2) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—The allocation

19 of funds under section 506 of title I of the Omnibus

20 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42

21 U.S.C. 3756) received by a State not complying with

22 the guidelines issued under this section 3 years after

23 the date of enactment of this Act may be reduced

24 by 10 percent and the unallocated funds shall be re-
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1 allocated to the States in compliance with this sec2 tion.

Passed the House of Representatives November 20,

1993.

Attest: DONNALD K. ANDERSON,

Clerk.

By DALLAS L. DENDY, JR.,

Assistant to the Clerk.