[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 2 (Thursday, January 7, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E44]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       USING CHILDREN AS HOSTAGES

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SUE W. KELLY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 6, 1999

  Mrs. KELLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation to 
address a problem that is plaguing our nation--children being taken as 
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 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 Senator 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 of age 
or younger, hostage in order to resist any officer or court in the 
United States, or to compel the federal government to do or to abstain 
from any act. Such a person would serve a minimum sentence 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.

                          ____________________