PROTECT Act

Bill: 108-s-885
Sponsor: Sen. Kennedy, Edward M. [D-MA]
Introduced: 2003-04-10 in the Senate
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Advertising
Appellate procedure
Armed Forces and National Security
Bail
Bank accounts
Bank records
Business records
Child abuse
Child pornography
Child safety
Child sexual abuse
Civil actions and liability
Commerce
Community policing
Computer crimes
Computer simulation
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Counterfeiting
Court records
Courts-martial and courts of inquiry
Credit cards
Crime prevention
Crimes against women
Criminal investigation
Criminal justice information
Criminal liability
Criminal statistics
Custody of children
DNA
Damages
Data banks
Deceptive advertising
Department of Justice
Disabled
Drug abuse
Drug abuse prevention
Drug law enforcement
Drug traffic
Drugs and youth
Economics and Public Finance
Electronic mail systems
Electronic surveillance
Employee selection
Evidence (Law)
Ex-offenders
Expert witnesses
Families
Family violence
Federal aid to law enforcement
Federal aid to transportation
Federal employees
Federal law enforcement officers
Finance and Financial Sector
Fines (Penalties)
Fingerprints
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Forensic medicine
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Governmental investigations
Health
Homeless
Housing and Community Development
Identification devices
Identification of criminals
Imports
Indictments
Informers
Injunctions
Internet
Interstate commerce
Juries
Kidnapping
Law
Leases
Legal fees
Legislation
Life imprisonment
Limitation of actions
Mandatory sentences
Mass rapid transit
Missing children
Murder
Nightclubs and cabarets
Parent and child
Parole
Performance measurement
Pleas (Criminal procedure)
Pornography
Postal service
Prosecution
Prostitution
Public prosecutors
Punitive damages
Rape
Recidivists
Science, Technology, Communications
Searches and seizures
Secret service
Sedatives
Sentences (Criminal procedure)
Sentencing guidelines
Sex offenders
Sex-oriented businesses
Shelters for the homeless
Signs and signboards
Signs and symbols
Smuggling
Social Welfare
State laws
Subpoena
Technology assessment
Telemarketing
Torture
Traffic signs and signals
Transportation and Public Works
U.S. Sentencing Commission
Volunteer workers
Warrants (Law)
Web sites
Wiretapping
Witnesses
Women
Youth violence

Summary:
action_date: 2003-04-10
text: Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003 or PROTECT Act - Amends the Federal criminal code to make the authorized term of supervised release after imprisonment any term of years or life for kidnaping involving a minor and for other specified felony offenses, including sexual abuse.
Provides for mandatory life imprisonment of a person convicted of a Federal sex offense against a minor if the person has a prior sex conviction in which a minor was the victim, with exceptions.
Directs the Attorney General to establish a pilot program for volunteer organizations to obtain criminal history background checks on their volunteers.
Authorizes the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications in the investigation of kidnaping, sex trafficking, and sex offenses against children.
Eliminates statutes of limitations for child abduction or the sexual or physical abuse of a child.
Bars pretrial release of persons charged with specified offenses against or involving children.

Directs the Attorney General to assign a national AMBER Alert Coordinator to facilitate the recovery of missing children.

Code Adam Act of 2003 - Requires the designated authority for a public building to establish procedures for locating a child who is missing in the building.
Requires a court, in sentencing a defendant convicted of an offense involving a minor victim, to impose a sentence within the Federal sentencing guidelines range, with exceptions.
Prohibits making a visual depiction that is a computer-generated image of a minor engaging in specified sexually explicit conduct.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2003-04-10
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2003-04-10
text: Introduced in Senate