[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 25, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E434]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE INTRODUCTION OF THE PROTECTING AIRLINE PASSENGERS FROM SEXUAL 
                              ASSAULTS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 25, 2014

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to introduce the Protecting 
Airline Passengers from Sexual Assaults Act, a bill to require the 
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to collect and maintain data on 
the number of sexual assaults that occur on commercial airplanes. At 
the moment, there are no real-time statistics or documentation. As a 
result, we cannot gain either the necessary information to prosecute 
these crimes or the insights to help eliminate them and improve 
complicated onboard sexual assault investigations by the Federal Bureau 
of Investigation. Passengers expect that after going through extensive 
security at airports that they will be safe aboard their flights, but a 
recent surge in reports of sexual assaults occurring on planes suggests 
otherwise. Those who staff flights and who may witness these crimes 
should have guidance as to how to proceed. Law enforcement and the 
flying public deserve to have access to data on sexual assaults that 
occur on planes so that we can work towards preventing these 
devastating crimes.
  In recent years, there has been an increase in reports of sexual 
assaults on flights in the United States. Oftentimes, the survivors of 
these crimes were asleep during part of the assault, but were so afraid 
and shocked that they did not call for help. In these cases, the 
dynamics of surviving a sexual assault are amplified. In order for the 
FAA and law enforcement to better gauge the extent of these horrendous 
crimes that have taken place on aircraft and to work towards 
prevention, data on the number of sexual assaults needs to be collected 
and shared with the public.
  My bill would require the FAA to establish a program to collect and 
maintain data on the number of sexual assaults that occur on commercial 
flights, including international flights and domestic flights that land 
or take off in the United States. Even more importantly, my bill would 
require the FAA to make this data available to the public on its 
website.
  Sexual assaults on airplanes are criminal acts that elude police and 
prosecutors more than many other crimes due to a number of factors, 
including fear on the part of the survivor, lack of witnesses, and a 
lack of education on how to respond to such acts. We need to know where 
the source of the surge is. This data is also very important because 
the public deserves to know that such incidents have happened.
  I urge support of this bill.

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