[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 144 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12431-S12432]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                               JOAN'S LAW

 Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, on behalf of the family and 
friends of Joan D'Alessandro, I want to express gratitude for the 
passage of Joan's Law, a bill I introduced in October 1997, as a 
provision in H.R. 3494, the Child Protection and Sexual Predator 
Punishment Act.
  Twenty-five years ago, 7-year-old Joan D'Alessandro left her home in 
Hillsdale, New Jersey to deliver Girl Scout cookies to a neighbor and 
disappeared. Three days later, that neighbor, confessed to taking 
Joan's life and changing forever the lives of those who loved her. 
Joseph McGowan, a school teacher, had raped Joan, killed her, and 
dumped her broken, battered body in a ravine.
  Although McGowan was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in state 
prison, the nightmare for the D'Alessandro family was far from over. 
For the past 12 years, they have had to live with the very real 
prospect that their daughter's killer will walk out of jail one day a 
free man. Already, McGowan has twice been eligible for parole and a New 
Jersey appeals court recently ordered another parole hearing. No family 
should have to suffer the tragedy of

[[Page S12432]]

the loss of their child and then be forced to relive it again and again 
through parole hearings and appeals.
  In response to their tragic loss, the D'Alessandro family has worked 
tirelessly at the state level for the enactment of Joan's Law, 
legislation providing that a child molester who murders a child under 
13 in New Jersey will receive life in prison without the possibility of 
parole. Joan's Law is now on the books in New Jersey and I am proud 
that we, in this Congress, are seizing the opportunity to enact 
companion federal legislation.
  My original legislation states that any person who is convicted of a 
serious violent felony should be sentenced to either death or 
imprisonment for life when the victim of the crime is under 14 years of 
age and dies as a result of the offense. As included in Senator Hatch's 
substitute to the House-passed bill, the bill also contains a narrow 
provision which allows the court to impose a lesser sentence in a case 
where the defendant has provided substantial assistance in the 
prosecution of another person. While I would have preferred Joan's Law 
to move forward as originally introduced, I understand and respect the 
addition of such a provision. It is a change that was made in 
consultation with and with the approval of both the D'Allesandro family 
and the bill's House sponsor, Representative Bob Franks.
  In am heartened by the swift passage of the Child Protection and 
Sexual Predator Protection Act both in the Judiciary Committee and on 
the floor. By including Joan's Law among the bill's provisions we have 
sent a strong message that our society will neither tolerate nor 
forgive the brutal acts of a criminal who takes a young life and 
ensures that this murdere will never bring such harm and grief to 
another family.

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