I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3990

To provide protection from sexual predators.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 9, 1994

Ms. SLAUGHTER (for herself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. EVANS,

Mr. FROST, Mr. HOCHBRUECKNER, Mr. KING, Mr. KLUG, Mrs.

MALONEY, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. TOWNS, and Mr. ENGLE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide protection from sexual predators.

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 ‘‘Protection from Sexual

5 Predators Act of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that.—

8 (1) rape and sexual assaults continue to be seri9 ous threats to the safety of communities across

10 America;
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1 (2) sexual offenders are much more likely than

2 any other category of criminals to repeat their

3 crimes again and again, even after serving time in

4 prison; and

(3) the average rape sentence is just 101 5 ⁄2

6 years, and the average time served is half of that,

7 approximately 5 years.

8 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con9 gress that—

10 (1) States should more seriously consider the

11 relatively high recidivism rate of sexual offenders

12 when deciding whether to plea bargain with a first13 time sexual offender and whether to grant parole to

14 sexual offenders; and

15 (2) States should review their treatment and

16 parole supervision programs for sexual offenders to

17 assure that these programs are fulfilling their goals,

18 and, if they are not, these programs should be im19 mediately replaced or abandoned.

20 SEC. 3. FEDERAL JURISDICTION OVER RAPE AND SEXUAL

21 ASSAULT CASES.

22 Section 2241 of title 18, United States Code, is

23 amended by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(e) PUNISHMENT FOR SEXUAL PREDATORS.—(1)

2 Whoever, in a circumstance described in paragraph (2) of

3 this subsection—

4 ‘‘(A) violates this section; or

5 ‘‘(B) engages in conduct, in or affecting inter6 state or foreign commerce, that would be a violation

7 of subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section, if the

8 offense had occurred in the special maritime and ter9 ritorial jurisdiction of the United States;

10 shall be imprisoned for life.

11 ‘‘(2) The circumstance referred to in paragraph (1)

12 of this subsection is that the defendant has previously

13 been convicted of another State or Federal offense for con14 duct which—

15 ‘‘(A) is an offense under this section or section

16 2242 of this title; or

17 ‘‘(B) would have been an offense under either

18 of such sections if the offense had occurred in the

19 special maritime or territorial jurisdiction of the

20 United States.’’.

21 SEC. 4. REGISTRATION PROGRAM.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—

23 (1) STATE GUIDELINES.—
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1 (A) GENERALLY.—The Attorney General

2 shall establish guidelines for State programs re3 quiring—

4 (i) any person who is convicted of a

5 sex offense to register and keep up to date

6 a current address with a designated State

7 law enforcement agency for 10 years after

8 release from prison, or being placed on pa9 role, supervised release, or probation; and

10 (ii) each State to provide information

11 obtained about the registered person to the

12 Attorney General on a prompt and regular

13 basis and in a uniform format.

14 (B) REQUIRED CONTENT OF GUIDE15 LINES.—Such guidelines shall require the inclu16 sion of such data about—

17 (i) the registered person, including

18 fingerprints and photographs; and

19 (ii) that person’s offenses and modus

20 operandi;

21 as the Attorney General deems useful for assist22 ing law enforcement investigations by Federal,

23 State, and other law enforcement authorities.
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1 (2) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this sub2 section, the term ‘‘sex offense’’ means any State or

3 Federal offense that—

4 (A) is an offense under section 2241 or

5 2242 of title 18, United States Code; or

6 (B) would have been an offense under ei7 ther of such sections if the offense had occurred

8 in the special maritime and territorial jurisdic9 tion of the United States.

10 (b) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—The Attorney

11 General shall maintain on-line availability of information

12 obtained under this section for use by authorized law en13 forcement agencies in carrying out their functions. The

14 Attorney General shall by rule provide for the privacy of

15 the information so maintained.

16 (c) 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 title I of the Omnibus Crime Control

22 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 received by a State not

23 complying with the guidelines issued under this sec24 tion 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act

25 may be reduced by 10 percent and the unallocated
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1 funds shall be reallocated to the States in compli2 ance with this section.

3 SEC. 5. STUDY OF PERSISTENT SEXUAL PREDATORS.

4 The National Institute of Justice, either directly or

5 through grant, shall carry out a study of persistent sexual

6 predators. Not later than one year after the date of the

7 enactment of this Act, such Institute shall report to Con8 gress and the President the results of such study. Such

9 report shall include—

10 (1) a synthesis of current research in psychol11 ogy, sociology, law, criminal justice, and other fields

12 regarding persistent sexual offenders, including—

13 (A) common characteristics of such offend14 ers;

15 (B) recidivism rates for such offenders;

16 (C) treatment techniques and their effec17 tiveness;

18 (D) responses of offenders to treatment

19 and deterrence; and

20 (E) the possibility of early intervention to

21 prevent people from becoming sexual predators;

22 and

23 (2) an agenda for future research in this area.

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