[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E349]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM HOSTAGE TAKING

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SUE W. KELLY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 11, 1998

  Mrs. KELLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation to 
address a problem that is plaguing our Nation--children being taken 
hostages. Far too many scenarios have been documented in which children 
are exposed to violence, emotional trauma or physical harm at the hands 
of adults.
  For example, in New York, a woman's estranged husband took her and 
their three children hostage at the point of a loaded shotgun. He held 
them for nearly four hours, and at one point, he even allegedly traded 
his seven-year-old son for a pack of cigarettes.
  In Texas, a man took 80 children hostage at an area day care 
facility, including two of his children. They were held at gunpoint and 
released over a 30-hour period before the standoff was brought to a 
non-violent conclusion.
  In Florida, a suspected drug addict and murderer held two children, 
ages two and four, hostage for two-and-a-half days. An entire Orlando 
neighborhood was evacuated during the standoff. Only when he threatened 
to use the children as human shields did a SWAT team rescue the 
children in a raid that resulted in the death of the suspect.
  In Baltimore, a man broke into a second-floor apartment, stabbing a 
young mother and holding her nine-month-old child hostage for two hours 
before a Quick Response Team could rescue the baby and apprehend the 
suspect.
  Situations like these are ``unacceptable'', and should not be 
tolerated by anyone. All over the country, children are being used as 
pawns in actions played by violent adults. We in Congress must do our 
part to help prevent these scenarios from developing in the first 
place.
  My legislation will give new protections to children--our Nation's 
most precious resource. I have joined forces with Senators Olympia 
Snowe to establish the strictest punishments for those who would evade 
arrest or obstruct justice by using children as hostages. This bill 
will toughen penalties against any person who takes a child, 18 years 
or age or younger, hostage in order to resist any officer or court of 
the United States, or to compel the Federal Government to do or to 
abstain from any act. Such a person would serve a minimum of ten years 
to a maximum of death, depending on the extent of injury to the child.
  Please join me in this important effort to protect the lives and 
well-being of our Nation's young. I hope that together we can make our 
Nation a safer place for everyone, especially those in our society 
least able to protect themselves.

                          ____________________