[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 713 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 713

              To provide protection from sexual predators.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 26, 1995

Ms. Slaughter introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
              To provide protection from sexual predators.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protection from Sexual Predators Act 
of 1995''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) rape and sexual assaults continue to be serious threats 
        to the safety of communities across America;
            (2) sexual offenders are much more likely than any other 
        category of criminals to repeat their crimes again and again, 
        even after serving time in prison; and
            (3) the average rape sentence is just 10\1/2\ years, and 
        the average time served is half of that, approximately 5 years.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) States should more seriously consider the relatively 
        high recidivism rate of sexual offenders when deciding whether 
        to plea bargain with a first-time sexual offender and whether 
        to grant parole to sexual offenders; and
            (2) States should review their treatment and parole 
        supervision programs for sexual offenders to assure that these 
        programs are fulfilling their goals, and, if they are not, 
        these programs should be immediately replaced or abandoned.

SEC. 3. FEDERAL JURISDICTION OVER RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES.

    Section 2241 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(e) Punishment for Sexual Predators.--(1) Whoever, in a 
circumstance described in paragraph (2) of this subsection--
            ``(A) violates this section; or
            ``(B) engages in conduct, in or affecting interstate or 
        foreign commerce, that would be a violation of subsection (a), 
        (b), or (c) of this section, if the offense had occurred in the 
        special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United 
        States;
shall be imprisoned for life.
    ``(2) The circumstance referred to in paragraph (1) of this 
subsection is that the defendant has previously been convicted of 
another State or Federal offense for conduct which--
            ``(A) is an offense under this section or section 2242 of 
        this title; or
            ``(B) would have been an offense under either of such 
        sections if the offense had occurred in the special maritime or 
        territorial jurisdiction of the United States.''.

SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL CONDITION FOR TRUTH IN SENTENCING GRANTS.

    Section 20102(a) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement 
Act of 1994 is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(A)'' after ``(1)'';
            (2) by redesignating existing paragraph (2) as subparagraph 
        (B);
            (3) by redesignating existing subparagraphs (A) through (D) 
        as clauses (i) through (iv) respectively;
            (4) by redesignating existing clauses (i) and (ii) as 
        subclauses (I) and (II);
            (5) by striking the period at the end and inserting ``; 
        and''; and
            (6) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) has in effect laws which allow the court to impose a 
        sentence of life in prison without parole on a defendant in a 
        criminal case who is convicted of a State offense for conduct 
        which--
                    ``(A) is an offense under section 2241 or 2242 of 
                title 18, United States Code; or
                    ``(B) would have been an offense under either of 
                such sections if the offense had occurred in the 
                special maritime or territorial jurisdiction of the 
                United States;
after having previously been convicted of another State or Federal 
offense for conduct that was an offense described in subparagraph (A) 
or (B).''

SEC. 5. STUDY OF PERSISTENT SEXUAL PREDATORS.

    The National Institute of Justice, either directly or through 
grant, shall carry out a study of persistent sexual predators. Not 
later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, such 
Institute shall report to Congress and the President the results of 
such study. Such report shall include--
            (1) a synthesis of current research in psychology, 
        sociology, law, criminal justice, and other fields regarding 
        persistent sexual offenders, including--
                    (A) common characteristics of such offenders;
                    (B) recidivism rates for such offenders;
                    (C) treatment techniques and their effectiveness;
                    (D) responses of offenders to treatment and 
                deterrence; and
                    (E) the possibility of early intervention to 
                prevent people from becoming sexual predators; and
            (2) an agenda for future research in this area.
                                 <all>