103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 324

AN ACT

To require any person who is convicted of a State

lease from prison, parole, or supervision.ment officials of the State for 10 years after reto register a current address with law enforcecriminal offense against a victim who is a minor
103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 324

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’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—

3 (1) STATE GUIDELINES.—The Attorney General

4 shall establish guidelines for State programs requir5 ing any person who is convicted of a criminal offense

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

7 address with a designated State law enforcement

8 agency for 10 years after release from prison, or

9 being placed on parole, supervised release, or proba10 tion.

11 (2) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this sub12 section, the term ‘‘criminal offense against a victim

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

14 consists of—

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

16 parent;

17 (B) false imprisonment of a minor, except

18 by a parent;

19 (C) criminal sexual conduct toward a

20 minor;

21 (D) solicitation of a minor to engage in

22 sexual conduct;

23 (E) use of a minor in a sexual perform24 ance;

25 (F) solicitation of a minor to practice pros26 titution;
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1 (G) any conduct that by its nature is a

2 sexual offense against a minor; or

3 (H) an attempt to commit an offense de4 scribed in any of subparagraphs (A) through

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

6 (i) makes such an attempt a criminal

7 offense; and

8 (ii) chooses to include such an offense

9 in those which are criminal offenses

10 against a victim who is a minor for the

11 purposes of this section.

12 (b) REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT UPON RELEASE,

13 PAROLE, SUPERVISED RELEASE, OR PROBATION.—An

14 approved State registration program established under

15 this section shall contain the following requirements:

16 (1) DUTY OF STATE PRISON OFFICIAL OR

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

18 under this section is released from prison, or placed

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

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

21 shall—

22 (A) inform the person of the duty to reg23 ister and obtain the information required for

24 such registration;
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1 (B) inform the person that if the person

2 changes residence address, the person shall give

3 the new address to a designated State law en4 forcement agency in writing within 10 days;

5 (C) inform the person that if the person

6 changes residence to another State, the person

7 shall register the new address with the law en8 forcement agency with whom the person last

9 registered, and the person is also required to

10 register with a designated law enforcement

11 agency in the new State not later than 10 days

12 after establishing residence in the new State, if

13 the new State has a registration requirement;

14 (D) obtain fingerprints and a photograph

15 of the person if these have not already been ob16 tained in connection with the offense that trig17 gers registration; and

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

19 form stating that the duty of the person to reg20 ister under this section has been explained.

21 (2) TRANSFER OF INFORMATION TO STATE AND

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

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

24 after receipt of information described in paragraph

25 (1), forward it to a designated State law enforce-
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1 ment agency. The State law enforcement agency

2 shall immediately enter the information into the ap3 propriate State law enforcement record system and

4 notify the appropriate law enforcement agency hav5 ing jurisdiction where the person expects to reside.

6 The State law enforcement agency shall also imme7 diately transmit the conviction data and fingerprints

8 to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

9 (3) ANNUAL VERIFICATION.—On each anniver10 sary of a person’s initial registration date during the

11 period in which the person is required to register

12 under this section, the designated State law enforce13 ment agency shall mail a nonforwardable verification

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

15 person shall mail the verification form to the des16 ignated State law enforcement agency within 10

17 days after receipt of the form. The verification form

18 shall be signed by the person, and state that the per19 son still resides at the address last reported to the

20 designated State law enforcement agency. If the per21 son fails to mail the verification form to the des22 ignated State law enforcement agency within 10

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

24 in violation of this section unless the person proves
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1 that the person has not changed his or her residence

2 address.

3 (4) NOTIFICATION OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCE4 MENT AGENCIES OF CHANGES IN ADDRESS.—Any

5 change of address by a person required to register

6 under this section reported to the designated State

7 law enforcement agency shall immediately be re8 ported to the appropriate law enforcement agency

9 having jurisdiction where the person is residing. The

10 designated law enforcement agency shall, if the per11 son changes residence to another State, notify the

12 person of the law enforcement agency with which the

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

14 State has a registration requirement.

15 (5) PRIVACY OF DATA.—The information col16 lected under a State registration program shall be

17 treated as private data on individuals and may be

18 disclosed only to law enforcement agencies for inves19 tigative purposes or to government agencies conduct20 ing confidential background checks with fingerprints

21 on applicants for child care positions or other posi22 tions involving contact with children.

23 (c) REGISTRATION FOR CHANGE OF ADDRESS TO

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

25 an offense which triggered registration in a State shall
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1 register the new address with a designated law enforce2 ment agency in another State to which the person moves

3 not later than 10 days after such person establishes resi4 dence in the new State, if the new State has a registration

5 requirement.

6 (d) REGISTRATION FOR 10 YEARS.—A person re7 quired to register under this section shall continue to com8 ply with this section until 10 years have elapsed since the

9 person was released from prison, or placed on parole, su10 pervised release, or probation.

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

12 a State program established pursuant to this section who

13 knowingly fails to so register and keep such registration

14 current shall be subject to criminal penalties in any State

15 in which the person has so failed.

16 (f) COMPLIANCE.—

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

18 3 years from the date of the enactment of this Act

19 in which to implement this section.

20 (2) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—The allocation

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

22 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42

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

24 the guidelines issued under this section 3 years after

25 the date of enactment of this Act may be reduced
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1 by 10 percent and the unallocated funds shall be re2 allocated to the States in compliance with this sec3 tion.

Passed the House of Representatives November 20,

1993.

Attest:

Clerk.