Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017
The Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017, also known as the Safe Sport Authorization Act, is an American law that establishes protection for young athletes. Among its provisions, it established the United States Center for SafeSport as an independent entity to investigate reports of abuse and to protect athletes from abuse in the United States Olympic movement. History. The Safe Sport Authorization Act requires Olympic governing bodies and amateur sports organizations to report sex abuse allegations immediately to local or  federal law enforcement, or a child welfare agency designated by the US Justice Department. It further gives the United States Center for SafeSport the responsibility of ensuring that aspiring U.S. Olympic athletes can report allegations of abuse to it as an independent and non-conflicted entity for investigation and resolution, and to make sure that all national governing bodies follow the strictest standards for child abuse prevention and detection. The bill amended the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, under the Commerce Committee's jurisdiction, to expand the purposes of United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to promote a safe  environment in sports that is free from abuse. The Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017 combined separate bills introduced in the 115th Congress by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D–CA) and John Thune (R–SD) in response to the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal, allegations made against personnel involved with USA Swimming and USA Taekwondo, and following Senate hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee on issues of athlete safety. Senator Feinstein introduced S. 534, the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act on March 6, 2017. Senator Thune introduced  S. 1426, the United States Center for Safe Sport Authorization Act, on June 29, 2017. Following negotiations, the two bills were merged and ultimately signed into law by President Donald Trump on February 14, 2018. SafeSport. As a direct result, the United States Center for SafeSport was set up in 2017 under the auspices of the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization of 2017. SafeSport seeks to address the problem of sexual abuse of minors and amateur athletes in sport. Its primary focus, as to which it has exclusive jurisdiction, is to review allegations of sexual  misconduct, and to impose sanctions up to lifetime banning of a person from involvement in all Olympic sports. One function of SafeSport is to collate a central database of disciplinary cases across all sporting disciplines. In 2019–20, the Center imposed "temporary" measures in 6% of cases - those where the charges were most serious and demanded to be addressed most urgently. In 71% of cases in which "final" sanctions were imposed, they consisted of some level of suspension or ineligibility. As of February 2020, the Center had sanctioned 627 people. Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act