In anticipation of the legislative hearing on the Adam Walsh Act’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) scheduled Tuesday, March 10th at 2:00 pm (Read more here: Dear Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Your Attendance at the AWA Hearings is Requested...), I wanted to pass along a link to the history behind the passage. Read everything you wanted to know about the morphology of the AWA here.
Also, watch tomorrow's hearing live here.
The New York Times ran an article 3/8/09--Effort to Track Sex Offenders Draws Resistance-- reporting what should have been reported some time back, but at least it's in print at this point. Definitely worth a read. For all those John Walsh watchers who may have been wondering what he's thinking right about now, well, this is what he told the NYT:
Typical.John Walsh, Adam’s father and the host of the television show “America’s Most Wanted,” said the law was vital to monitoring sex offenders but suggested Congress postpone the compliance deadline. Mr. Walsh said the many obstacles — most recently the recession, which has made it tough for some states to pay for the law’s provisions — need more time to be worked out.
He warned, however, that delays come with a cost. Criminals like Mr. Duncan, who has been sentenced to death, are glaring examples of why the law must succeed, he said.
“As long as it isn’t fully funded and implemented,” Mr. Walsh said, “the bad guys can still float through the country and commit horrible crimes.”
As far as "horrible crimes", I'm certain Mr. Walsh didn't appreciate the following citation one paragraph above his quote.
There are also concerns that the law does not take into account the individual circumstances of each sex offender, including the likelihood of committing more crimes. Instead, it lumps all offenders into broad levels of dangerousness based on the crime for which they were convicted, allowing, the law’s critics say, the worst offenders to blend in with less threatening ones.
People are listening.
Take the time today to phone or fax an invite to members of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, especially if any such member represents your state.
Check out my letter to sweet Deb Wasserman Schultz, District 20 here.
MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME OF THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
DEMOCRATS
Rep. Bobby Scott, Chair (VI, 3rd District) - Telephone: (202) 225-8351
Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi (Puerto Rico) - Telephone: (202) 225-2615
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY, 8th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5635
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA, 16th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3072
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX, 18th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3816
Rep. Maxine Waters (CA, 35th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-2201
Rep. Steve Cohen (TN, 9th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3265
Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY, 9th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-6616
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL, 20th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-7931
REPUBLICANS
Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX, 1st District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3035
Rep. Ted Poe (TX, 2nd District) - Telephone: (202) 225-6565
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VI, 6th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5431
Rep. Daniel Lungren (CA, 3rd District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5716
Rep. J. Randy Forbes (VI, 4th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-6365
Rep. Thomas Rooney (FL, 16th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5792
