[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 29, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1936-S1937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SESSIONS (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Hatch, Ms. 
        Klobuchar, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Kyl, 
        Mr. Graham, Mr. Lee, Ms. Collins, Mr. Thune, Mr. Coburn, Mr. 
        Burr, and Mr. Chambliss):
  S. 671. A bill to authorize the United States Marshals Service to 
issue administrative subpoenas in investigations relating to 
unregistered sex offenders; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I seek recognition today to introduce 
and speak in favor of the Finding Fugitive Sex Offenders Act of 2011, 
which would give administrative subpoena authority to the Director of 
the U.S. Marshals Service for the investigation of sex offenders who 
have failed to register as required by the Sex Offender Registration 
and Notification Act. The language of the bill is the product of 
bipartisan negotiations during the last Congress, which was included in 
a broader child crimes bill last year that passed both the Senate 
Judiciary Committee and the Senate, but did not become law.
  To understand the need for this bill, it is important to understand 
the history of recent child crimes legislation in Congress. When the 
Adam Walsh Act, which I cosponsored, was enacted in July 2006 to create 
a more uniform and enforceable sex offender registry system, over 
150,000 convicted sex offenders were believed to be unregistered and 
missing from the various state sex offender registries. A key component 
of the Walsh Act, one requested by John Walsh himself, was to give the 
U.S. Marshals Service primary enforcement authority to locate and 
arrest unregistered sex offenders who had crossed state lines or had 
earlier been convicted under federal law. The Walsh Act, however, did 
not provide the Marshals Service with administrative subpoena authority 
to perform these investigations, which can span jurisdictions and move 
quickly. The Finding Fugitive Sex Offenders Act will fix this gap in 
the law and grant the Marshals Service this long-needed authority.
  It is very surprising that this authority does not already exist in 
light of the hundreds of administrative subpoena authorities that are 
in place for various federal agencies, including the EPA, the DEA, the 
FBI, the CFTC, and even the Appalachian Regional Commission. In March 
2006, the Congressional Research Service reported that ``[t]here are 
now over 300 instances where federal agencies have been granted 
administrative subpoena power in one form or another.'' In reality, 
that number is even higher. According to the Department of Justice's 
2002 Report to Congress on the Use of Administrative Subpoena 
Authorities by Executive Branch Agencies and Entities, the Office of 
Legal Policy ``identified approximately 335 existing administrative 
subpoena authorities held by various executive branch entities under 
current law.'' Most of these authorities are for civil enforcement or 
regulatory compliance--matters far less critical and time-sensitive 
than locating a fugitive sex offender who has intentionally evaded 
registering his location or place of employment to avoid detection by 
law enforcement.
  There is no reason why the Marshals Service should not have this type 
of authority. In these fast-moving investigations across state lines, 
law enforcement simply cannot afford delays, especially on weekends and 
holidays when U.S. Attorney's Offices are closed and grand jury 
subpoenas are unavailable. Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand 
explained the delays and limitations of traditional grand jury 
subpoenas in fast-moving investigations when she testified before the 
Senate Judiciary Committee on another administrative subpoena proposal 
in June 2004:

       Although grand jury subpoenas are a sufficient tool in many 
     investigations, there are circumstances in which an 
     administrative subpoena would save precious minutes or hours. 
     . . . For example, the ability to use an administrative 
     subpoena will eliminate delays caused by factors such as the 
     unavailability of an Assistant United States Attorney to 
     immediately issue a grand jury subpoena, especially in rural 
     areas; the time it takes to contact an Assistant United 
     States Attorney in the context of a time-sensitive 
     investigation; the lack of a grand jury sitting at the moment 
     the documents are needed (under federal law, the `return 
     date' for a grand jury subpoena must be on a day the grand 
     jury is sitting); or the absence of an empaneled grand jury 
     in the judicial district where the investigation is taking 
     place, a rare circumstance that would prevent a grand jury 
     subpoena from being issued at all.

  The reality is that sex offenders often fail to register precisely so 
they can evade detection and move to a new place where they won't face 
scrutiny. During the hearings and floor debates on the Adam Walsh Act, 
the Senate heard of the heart-breaking tragedies caused when sex 
offenders knowingly evaded registration so they could disappear from 
detection. Senators from Washington and Idaho went to the floor to 
describe the registry failures and disappearance of Joseph Duncan, who 
shortly after his release from custody in 2005, absconded from 
Minnesota

[[Page S1937]]

and traveled across the country to Idaho, where he kidnapped Dylan and 
Shasta Groene from their home in the middle of the night. In the course 
of the kidnapping, he murdered the children's mother, brother, and the 
mother's boyfriend by beating them to death with a framing hammer. He 
then took the children to remote campgrounds across the state line into 
Montana, where he brutally abused them and later killed Dylan. As one 
Senator explained during the debate: ``Joseph Duncan was essentially 
lost by three States. He moved from State to State to avoid capture. No 
one knew where he was nor even how to look for him.''

  A similar tragic story involved the convicted sex offender who killed 
Florida 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. John Couey had failed to tell 
authorities that he was living in a trailer just feet from Jessica's 
home. In 2005, he kidnapped Jessica from her bedroom and took her to 
his home where he raped and killed her. Ernie Allen, the President of 
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, cited Couey in 
his congressional testimony in support of the Walsh Act, explaining 
that he ``was not where he was supposed to be and [his] presence was 
unknown to the police or Jessica's family even though he lived 150 
yards down the street from her and had worked construction at her 
elementary school.''
  As the Lunsford and Groene cases demonstrate, some sex offenders 
evade the registry requirements because they want to offend again. In 
these cases, time is law enforcement's enemy. According to the 
Department of Justice's guide for families with missing children, ``the 
actions of parents and of law enforcement in the first 48 hours are 
critical to the safe recovery of a missing child.'' The Lunsford case 
illustrates how vital it is for law enforcement to quickly locate sex 
offenders during a missing child investigation. John Couey reportedly 
told law enforcement that he kept young Jessica alive for three days 
before he smothered her inside a plastic trash bag. In a case like 
Jessica's, this type of authority literally could mean the difference 
between life and death.
  This legislation has broad support. When I drafted this language last 
Congress, I shared it with the Marshals Service and lawyers who work in 
the field of protecting children from exploitation. These professionals 
were not only supportive, but also very clear about the need for this 
subpoena authority.
  I strongly support this legislation and am thankful to the broad 
bipartisan group, including Senators Blumenthal, Hatch, Klobuchar, 
Grassley, Whitehouse, Cornyn, Kyl, Graham, Lee, Collins, Thune, Coburn, 
Burr and Chambliss, who have agreed to cosponsor this legislation. I 
hope the full Senate will take up and pass this legislation soon.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 671

       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 ``Finding Fugitive Sex 
     Offenders Act of 2011''.

     SEC. 2. SUBPOENA AUTHORITY FOR THE UNITED STATES MARSHALS 
                   SERVICE.

       Section 566(e)(1) of title 28, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``; and''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(C) issue administrative subpoenas in accordance with 
     section 3486 of title 18 solely for the purpose of 
     investigating unregistered sex offenders (as that term is 
     defined in section 3486 of title 18).''.

     SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO ADMINISTRATIVE SUBPOENA 
                   STATUTE.

       (a) In General.--Section 3486(a)(1) of title 18, United 
     States Code, is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A)--
       (A) in clause (i)(II), by striking ``or'' at the end;
       (B) by redesignating clause (ii) as clause (iii); and
       (C) by inserting after clause (i) the following:
       ``(ii) an unregistered sex offender conducted by the United 
     States Marshals Service, the Director of the United States 
     Marshals Service; or''; and
       (2) by striking subparagraph (D) and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(D) As used in this paragraph--
       ``(i) the term `Federal offense involving the sexual 
     exploitation or abuse of children' means an offense under 
     section 1201, 1591, 2241(c), 2242, 2243, 2251, 2251A, 2252, 
     2252A, 2260, 2421, 2422, or 2423, in which the victim is an 
     individual who has not attained the age of 18 years; and
       ``(ii) the term `sex offender' means an individual required 
     to register under the Sex Offender Registration and 
     Notification Act (42 U.S.C. 16901 et seq.).''.
       (b) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--Section 3486(a) 
     of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (6)(A), by striking ``United State'' and 
     inserting ``United States'';
       (2) in paragraph (9), by striking ``or (1)(A)(ii)'' and 
     inserting ``or (1)(A)(iii)''; and
       (3) in paragraph (10), by striking ``paragraph (1)(A)(ii)'' 
     and inserting ``paragraph (1)(A)(iii)''.
                                 ______