[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 81 (Monday, May 23, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S3052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ADAM WALSH REAUTHORIZATION BILL

 Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, today the Senate voted on S. 2613, 
the Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act. This legislation would extend two 
key programs that Congress established a decade ago to standardize and 
strengthen registration and monitoring of sex offenders nationwide. I 
support this bill because it has critical provisions that law 
enforcement officers need in order to protect our children from harm, 
and I would have voted in favor of it if I were present for the vote.
  In 2006, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Adam 
Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. The Adam Walsh Act, which was 
named for a 6-year old who was tragically murdered in 1981, established 
nationwide notification and registration standards for those convicted 
of sex offenses. The Adam Walsh Act created a Federal grant program to 
assist State and local law enforcement to implement registration 
systems and locate those who fail abide by registration requirements.
  The Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act would reauthorize the Sex Offender 
Management Assistance Program, a Federal program that assists State and 
local law enforcement agencies in their efforts to improve sex offender 
registry systems and information-sharing capabilities. The bill would 
also reauthorize the Jessica Lunsford Address Verification Grant 
Program, a Federal program that assists States and local law 
enforcement agencies in their efforts to verify the residence of all or 
some registered sex offenders. The reauthorization of these critical 
programs would provide law enforcement with the tools they need to keep 
our communities safe.
  I would have voted in favor this legislation today because it helps 
combat child predators by giving law enforcement officials the tools 
they need to catch these dangerous individuals and convict them. It 
takes a comprehensive network of law enforcement agencies on the 
Federal, State, and local levels working together to ensure compliance 
and locate sex offenders, and that is what this bill would do. I also 
support this legislation because it would tighten our sex offender 
registration system and better track registered sex offenders, which 
helps to protect our children from harm. I also recognize that this 
legislation has the support of the National Center for Missing and 
Exploited Children, the Nation's foremost missing children's 
clearinghouse.
  Despite my support for this legislation, I do have concerns with some 
sex offender registration systems. First, more research is needed to 
assess whether or not sex offender registries actually improve the 
safety of the public. Some research has concluded that sex registries 
have no demonstrable effect in reducing sex re-offenses and often 
registered sex offenders have higher rates of recidivism. While our men 
and women in uniform believe they need this tool to combat sex 
offenses, Congress should not rubber-stamp Federal programs in the 
absence of hard data that demonstrates their effectiveness in keeping 
us safe.
  I am also concerned that sex offender programs undermine 
rehabilitation because they present significant barriers to 
reintegration into the community. Requiring youth who are adjudicated 
in juvenile court of sex offenses to register as a sex offender is 
counterproductive to the goal of the juvenile justice system, which is 
designed to protect youth from lifelong penalties carried by the adult 
criminal justice system. The top priority of our government must be to 
protect the public; but one-size-fits-all solutions do not achieve that 
end.
  Despite my concerns, I would have voted in favor of the Adam Walsh 
Reauthorization Act today because I believe it provides law enforcement 
with the tools they need to keep people safe. I am committed to working 
with law enforcement to make sure they receive the support they need 
from Congress to effectively do their jobs. However, Congress must do 
its job by ensuring that the programs we endorse have the research to 
support them. That effort is critical to both keeping the public safe 
and to ensuring that our justice system is fair for all 
Americans.

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