[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 25, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H6940-H6942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2145
            TWO STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT CHILD PROTECTION ACT

  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4047) to amend title 18 of the United States Code to provide 
life imprisonment for repeat offenders who commit sex offenses against 
children.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4047

       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 ``Two Strikes and You're Out 
     Child Protection Act''.

     SEC. 2. MANDATORY LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR REPEAT SEX OFFENDERS 
                   AGAINST CHILDREN.

       Section 3559 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
     adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(e) Mandatory Life Imprisonment for Repeated Sex Offenses 
     Against Children.--
       ``(1) In general.--A person who is convicted of a Federal 
     sex offense in which a minor is the victim shall be sentenced 
     to life imprisonment if the person has a prior sex conviction 
     in which a minor was the victim, unless the sentence of death 
     is imposed.
       ``(2) Definitions.--For the purposes of this subsection--
       ``(A) the term `Federal sex offense' means an offense under 
     section 2241 (relating to aggravated sexual abuse), 2242 
     (relating to sexual abuse), 2243 (relating to sexual abuse of 
     a minor or ward), 2244 (relating to abusive sexual contact), 
     2245 (relating to sexual abuse resulting in death), or 2251A 
     (relating to selling or buying of children), or an offense 
     under section 2423 (relating to transportation of minors) 
     involving the transportation of, or the engagement in a 
     sexual act with, an individual who has not attained 16 years 
     of age;
       ``(B) the term `prior sex conviction' means a conviction 
     for which the sentence was imposed before the conduct 
     occurred forming the basis for the subsequent Federal sex 
     offense, and which was for either--
       ``(i) a Federal sex offense; or
       ``(ii) an offense under State law consisting of conduct 
     that would have been a Federal sex offense if, to the extent 
     or in the manner specified in the applicable provision of 
     title 18--

       ``(I) the offense involved interstate or foreign commerce, 
     or the use of the mails; or
       ``(II) the conduct occurred in any commonwealth, territory, 
     or possession of the United States, within the special 
     maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, 
     in a Federal prison, on any land or building owned by, leased 
     to, or otherwise used by or under the control of the 
     Government of the United States, or in the Indian country as 
     defined in section 1151;

       ``(C) the term `minor' means any person under the age of 18 
     years; and
       ``(D) the term `State' means a State of the United States, 
     the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or 
     possession of the United States.''.

     SEC. 3. TITLE 18 CONFORMING AND TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

       (a) Section 2247.--Section 2247 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended by inserting ``, unless section 3559(e) 
     applies'' before the final period.
       (b) Section 2426.--Section 2426 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended by inserting ``, unless section 3559(e) 
     applies'' before the final period.
       (c) Technical Amendments.--Sections 2252(c)(1) and 
     2252A(d)(1) of title 18, United States Code, are each amended 
     by striking ``less than three'' and inserting ``fewer than 
     3''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Tancredo). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Scott) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot).


                             General Leave

  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks, and to include extraneous material on H.R. 4047, the bill 
under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Green), and I ask unanimous consent that 
he may be permitted to control the time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume; and let me begin by thanking the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Hyde), chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, as well as the 
members of the committee, for their help and support in bringing this 
bill to the floor.
  Let me also thank those Members who previously voted for this bill. 
This bill was voice voted last year as an amendment to the Juvenile 
Crime Bill, and so I appreciate the support that we had then and hope 
that we can count on similar support this evening.
  Mr. Speaker, I think the best way to launch a discussion of this bill 
is to begin with a story. All bills in some way or another begin with a 
story, and this bill is no exception.
  In January of 1960, a 19-year-old man in Green Bay, Wisconsin, my own 
district, a man named David Spanbauer, broke into a home, tied a 
babysitter to a bed and viciously raped her at knife point. When he was 
done, he waited until her uncle came home, and he shot him point-blank 
in the face. David Spanbauer was convicted and sentenced to 70 years in 
prison.
  In May of 1972, 12 years later, he was paroled. Within months, he had 
raped another teenager, a hitchhiker, a random victim. He was returned 
to prison.
  In January of 1991, he was released yet again; and a few years later 
he was caught trying to break into another home in northeastern 
Wisconsin. And when the police searched his car, they quickly found 
tools and resources linking him to a series of violent sexual assaults 
throughout the area. He confessed to raping and murdering a 10-year-old 
girl, raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl, raping and murdering a 
21-year-old. He was convicted of 18 felonies in five counties.
  Mr. Speaker, we are here tonight because of sick individuals like 
David Spanbauer. There is obviously no soft or pleasant way, there is 
nothing I can cleverly say that makes this subject matter easier. Sex 
crimes against children, we all agree here tonight, are the worst types 
of crimes. They are every parent's worst nightmare. And those of us who 
are parents, as I am, we try to reassure ourselves late at night by 
saying to ourselves that these are far away; these crimes and these 
individuals are far away. They are far off. They are not in our streets 
or in our communities. The problem is that David Spanbauer and others 
show us that that is not true.
  The good news tonight, if we can call it that, is that statistics 
tell us the number of repeat child molesters, taken as a percentage of 
the prison population, is small, relatively small.

[[Page H6941]]

The horrific news is that the damage that each of these monsters causes 
is unbelievable. They destroy lives, they destroy communities, they 
steal innocence. The recidivism rate for repeat child molesters is 
extraordinarily high, higher than any other crime with which I am 
familiar.
  The bill that is before us tonight was voice voted once before, again 
added as part of the Crime Bill. It is a narrowly focused, carefully 
tailored bill aimed solely and squarely at repeat child molesters. This 
bill does not Federalize any crime. In fact, it carefully respects 
State laws in this area. It covers a limited number of the most 
heinous, most horrible Federal sex crimes against kids: aggravated 
sexual abuse of a minor, for example; sexual abuse resulting in death.
  And what this bill says, ``Two strikes and you're out,'' is real 
simple. It says that if an individual is arrested and convicted of a 
serious sex crime against kids and then serves their time, then after 
serving their time decides to do it yet again, they are going to go to 
prison for the rest of their life. I make no bones about it with this 
legislation.
  This bill is not about rehabilitation, openly admitted. This bill is 
not even about deterrence. It is about removing bad people from 
society. It is about removing from society a very small number of 
people who cause tremendous damage. And every study tells us they will 
do it again and again and again, if we let them. They will rob children 
of their innocence, they will destroy families, and they will destroy 
our lives.
  Mr. Speaker, before I sit down, I would like to point to this 
graphic. And as some of my colleagues noticed, it was originally upside 
down. I point to this graphic here, this number. Nothing fancy about 
it. Not a terribly elaborate graphic. But this graphic right here, this 
number, this number gives the essence of this bill.
  The United States Department of Justice tells us that the average 
child molester will commit 380 acts of child molestation during his 
lifetime. Let me repeat that. The average child molester will commit 
380 acts of child molestation during his lifetime.
  Now, monsters like David Spanbauer, they are at fault, they are 
guilty, obviously, for their crimes. But I would suggest to my 
colleagues tonight, in the case of repeat child molesters, those who 
have been arrested and convicted before, if we let them out, if we fail 
to take action, do we not bear at least a little responsibility?
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, 
and I rise in opposition to the bill.
  Here we are with another series of crime bills which, by their title, 
make it sound as if we are doing something about crime but really are 
not.
  This time, according to the title of the bill, it is ``Two Strikes 
and You're Out.'' This bill completes the baseball metaphor sound 
bites. A few years ago we had ``Three Strikes and You're Out.'' A 
couple of weeks ago we had the ``No Second Chances'' bill, which was 
essentially ``One Strike and You're Out.'' And although we have had no 
evidence that either one strike or three strikes did any good, we are 
now considering ``Two Strikes and You're Out.''
  When we considered ``Three Strikes,'' we asked those who were 
supporting the bill to explain to us whether or not there were any 
fourth offenses that we were trying to prevent with the ``Three Strikes 
and You're Out,'' and we are still waiting for an answer. That was 
several years ago.
  A few weeks ago we did have a hearing on ``One Strike and You're 
Out,'' and we heard that that bill was onerous, impractical, and 
unworkable. It was worse than an unfunded mandate, certain to generate 
a morass of bureaucracy. It is enormous and costly, and with a net 
probable public safety impact of zero. Those are not my words but the 
words of the National Governors' Association, the National Conference 
of State Legislators, the Council of State Governments, the U.S. 
Department of Justice, and a noted criminologist. Notwithstanding that 
testimony, however, we passed the bill with an overwhelming majority.
  Now we have ``Two Strikes.'' It sounds like we are doing something 
about the tragic problem of child sexual assault. But this bill, if it 
has any effect at all, it might affect 10 cases per year. Every year 
there are approximately 100,000 cases of sexual assaults against 
children, 100,000; and this bill might affect 10, which in effect 
ignores 99.99 percent of the cases of sexual assaults against children 
in America.
  Obviously, we ought to be focusing on what we can do to reduce the 
chances that one of the 99.99 might be assaulted. So long as we keep 
passing bills that offer virtually no prospect of reducing crime, we 
will never get the opportunity to consider those bills for which we 
have research-based evidence that they will demonstrably reduce crime. 
And therefore, Mr. Speaker, I ask for a ``no'' vote on this bill so we 
can get to other bills that will actually reduce crime.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), a member of the Committee on the 
Judiciary.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time.
  There is nothing so despicable as those who prey on children. There 
is nothing so abhorrent as harming those who are most vulnerable. We 
have an obligation to do all within our power to protect this Nation's 
children from the monsters who are out there as we speak.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Green) for his 
leadership, and actually doing something about the despicable, the 
abhorrent things which happen to children in this country every day. 
The gentleman from Wisconsin has shown considerable leadership in 
offering this legislation. I commend him for that, and I urge my 
colleagues to support H.R. 4047.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to 
read a comment from the United States Sentencing Commission, a letter 
to myself and the chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime dated May 1.
  This is from the United States Sentencing Commission:

       H.R. 4047, as presently written, raises some serious 
     proportionality concerns. The bill would require a mandatory 
     life sentence for any person who is convicted of a Federal 
     sex offense in which a minor is the victim, if the person had 
     a prior sex conviction in which a minor was the victim. This 
     sentence could be mandatory for two defendants convicted of 
     vastly dissimilar crimes.
       For example, a defendant convicted of raping a child under 
     12 using force, who had a prior conviction for a similar 
     offense, currently is subject to a mandatory life sentence. 
     Under H.R. 4047, a 19-year-old defendant, who engaged in 
     consensual sex with a 15-year-old, would be subject to the 
     same life imprisonment if he had a prior statutory rape 
     conviction or conviction for some other prior sex offense in 
     which the victim was a minor. The seriousness of these two 
     offenses and harm to the victims could obviously be very 
     different.

  I would just like that note from the Sentencing Commission placed in 
the Record.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume to sum up.
  First of all, let me say that this will not be the first time or the 
last time I disagree with the Sentencing Commission, both regarding 
their opinion and also in their analysis of a bill.
  But let me just close by saying this. I would invite all of my 
colleagues, when they go home this weekend, to go to their computer, go 
on line, and call up the sexual offender registry in their home State 
or their home community and take a look at the rogues gallery of sick 
monsters who prey on our children. What my colleagues will find 
interesting when they call up those names, in taking a look at for how 
many of those individuals the record shows that they have done it over 
and over and over again.
  This bill is about removing sick monsters from society.
  Mr. KUYKENDALL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 
4047, the Two Strikes and You're Out Child Protection Act. This is 
important legislation that will help protect our children from sexual 
predators.
  Today, we are sending a message to all pedophiles. You get one chance 
to reform your ways. If you are caught a second time sexually 
assaulting a child and are convicted, you will be given a life sentence 
without parole. The sad truth is that sex offenders and molesters are 
four times more likely than other

[[Page H6942]]

violent criminals to recommit their crimes. A typical molester will 
abuse between 30 and 60 children before they are finally arrested and 
the danger to other children eliminated. More shocking, a recent survey 
conducted by the Washington Post found that each pedophile in the 
survey had molested an average of 300 innocent victims. Even one more 
victim is too many, and the Two Strikes and You're Out Child Protection 
Act will aggressively curb sexual abuses and assaults.
  With the emergence of the Internet, children are even more vulnerable 
to sexual predators. Luring children across state lines has become even 
more prevalent as a result of the Internet. In this world where state 
lines have less meaning to our everyday lives, we need a concerted, 
national effort to combat this perverse threat. The Two Strikes and 
You're Out legislation does exactly that, not by creating more 
cumbersome crimes or by removing the role of the states, but by 
strengthening the penalties for crimes already on the books.
  As a state legislator, I worked tirelessly to pass a piece of 
legislation called the Tyler Jaeger Act. The bill helps California law 
enforcement officials combat child abuse by strengthening the penalties 
against individuals who commit child abuse that results in the death of 
a child. My goal in passing this legislation was to provide a greater 
level of protection for our children. As a form of child abuse, sexual 
assault is among the saddest of crimes that can be committed, largely 
because the victim is defenseless. With high recidivism rates, we know 
that pedophiles will repeat their crimes until we get them off the 
streets. Just like Tyler Jaeger gave California new tools to fight 
child abuse, H.R. 4047 will provide federal law enforcement with a 
greater ability to remove these threats from society. Supporting this 
bill is the least we can do for all of our children. I urge my 
colleagues to vote for this important tool.
  Mrs. KELLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this legislation 
offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin.
  Child sex offenders are justly condemned by our society as being the 
worst kind of criminal. The bill being considered today reminds us that 
perhaps our policies dealing with them do not fully match our 
rhetorical reproach.
  The proposal we will vote on today represents the tough approach that 
must be taken if we are to succeed in reducing sex crimes against our 
children. An examination of the issue tells us that pedophiles are more 
likely than virtually any other type of criminal to repeat the same 
offense--yet the convicted pedophile currently spends on average less 
than three years behind bars.
  We have got to do better than that. Child sex offenders ruin lives. 
They are predators with no conscience. The defenseless children upon 
whom they prey must deal for the rest of their lives with the scars 
left by a child sex offender's cowardly actions.
  We must do more to keep these pedophiles off our streets and away 
from our children. This bill clearly takes a significant step in this 
direction through its provision of tougher sentences for repeat 
offenders, so I thank my colleague from Wisconsin for his efforts on 
this matter, and join him today in advocating its passage.
  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

                              {time}  2200

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Tancredo). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) that the House suspend 
the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4047.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________