[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15435-15436]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now 
be a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak 
therein for up to 10 minutes each.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                            Sexual Predators

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, this is a poster that shows what I 
discovered on the Internet in North Dakota. I discovered this in the 
month of April. I was going to have a meeting in Fargo and, just out of 
curiosity, I called up the North Dakota registry of sex offenders, to 
find out who was living within 2 miles of where I was having the 
meeting, at city hall in Fargo, ND. In the briefing book I had, I 
described this fellow to the people who came. His name is Joseph 
Duncan. The entire country knows of Joseph Duncan now. When I described 
Mr. Duncan, many people in the area didn't know him.
  This sheet from the North Dakota Attorney General's Office, Bureau of 
Criminal Investigation, shows that Joseph Duncan was living in Fargo, 
ND. He was a sexual predator, and he had served a 20-year prison 
sentence for a first-degree rape. In 1980, he raped a 14-year-old boy 
at gunpoint, burned the victim, and made the victim believe he was 
going to be killed by firing the gun twice on empty chambers. And he 
went to prison.
  In 2000, he was released from prison. He completed his full sentence, 
and was released without probation or parole. He went to live in North 
Dakota.
  Again, I mentioned him in April of this year at a meeting simply 
because his name came up on an inquiry I did about who was living in 
Fargo, ND.
  What I didn't know in April, when I mentioned Mr. Duncan, was that 1 
month earlier he had been charged with molesting a 6-year-old boy at a 
playground in Detroit Lakes, MN. He appeared in court April 5 on those 
charges, a county judge set the bail at $15,000, and Joseph Duncan was 
released, promising to stay in touch. Of course, he didn't. He promptly 
disappeared.
  As we know from substantial media coverage in recent weeks, Joseph 
Duncan was subsequently arrested in Idaho for kidnapping 8-year-old 
Shasta Groene. Her brother, 9-year-old Dylan, was missing. Their family 
was murdered upon the abduction of these two young children. The 
remains of Dylan have now been located. Duncan has been charged with 
abducting and molesting both children and is also under investigation 
for the murder of Dylan and the parents.
  It is so frustrating to be here talking about this. It is a breakdown 
in common sense. Martha Stewart was let out of a minimum security 
prison and was required to wear an electronic bracelet and, apparently, 
she still wears one at her home under the disposition of the court. But 
we have known violent sexual predators walking around this country with 
no such level of supervision.
  I have been on the Senate floor many times talking about a bill I 
introduced called Dru's law. I have shown colleagues a picture of a 
young woman named Dru Sjodin, who was brutally murdered and whose 
alleged assailant is a man named Mr. Rodriguez.
  Mr. Rodriguez was in prison for 23 years. He is a violent sexual 
predator. He was let out, even when he was judged to be a high risk for 
reoffending. We know that 70 percent of the time high-risk sexual 
predators are going to reoffend. In most cases, their next offense will 
be more violent. Mr. Rodriguez allegedly murdered Dru Sjodin. The 
evidence is very substantial. He was walking around with not much more 
than a ``see you later'' at the prison door, much like Joseph Duncan. 
Mr. Duncan had been convicted previously of violent sexual offenses, 
and then he was accused in April of molesting a 6-year-old boy. What 
happens to him? He goes through a revolving door in the criminal 
justice system to be let out at $15,000 bail. Martha Stewart is wearing 
that bracelet and this fellow is turned back out on $15,000. Then this 
young girl named Shasta Groene is kidnapped with her brother Dylan and 
they were sexually molested. People are dead.
  Dru's law, which I introduced well over a year ago, has been passed 
by the Senate once and didn't get through the House. Senator Specter 
and I and others have introduced it again, and my hope is very much 
that in the month of July we can get it through this Chamber and 
through the House and get it to the President for signature. It has 
three simple provisions: One, there should be a national registry of 
sex offenders, a national registry of sexual predators. This isn't 
rocket science. Somebody like this who rapes a 16-year-old boy at 
gunpoint needs to go on a sexual predator registry, and no matter where 
this person showed up in the criminal justice system, regardless of 
state lines, the public should be able to know that he is out there. We 
need a national registry of sexual predators.
  Two, before a high-risk sexual predator is about to be released from 
prison, the local State's attorney must be notified in the event that 
they believe this person is so dangerous that they need to seek 
additional civil commitment. That must be the case.
  And three, if, in fact, a high-risk sexual predator is released at 
the end of his term, there must be intensive monitoring by local 
governments. Once again, electronic monitoring bracelets are not just 
meant for Martha Stewart. They ought to be meant for very violent 
offenders like this who abduct and brutalize young children at 
gunpoint.
  We can do much better. It is not only about Dylan and Shasta and Dru 
Sjodin; month after month, we read these stories.
  Jessica Lunsford, 9 years old, Mark Lunsford's daughter, was abducted 
in February from her bedroom in her Florida home, and they found her 
body a month later. The crime was committed by a 46-year-old convicted 
sex offender with a 30-year history.
  We know who these people are. They have been in the system before.
  Sarah Michelle Lunde disappeared April 9 in Ruskin, south of Tampa, 
FL. David Onstott, a convicted sex offender who once had a relationship 
with the girl's mother, has confessed to killing her.
  Jetseta Gage, of Cedar Rapids, IA, was abducted, sexually assaulted, 
and murdered. Roger Paul Bentley has been arrested for that crime. He 
is a convicted sex offender on Iowa's sex offender registry.
  This has to stop. We know who these people are. Statistics tell us 
that over 70 percent of the violent sexual predators, when let out of 
prison, are going to reoffend. I am talking about type 3 sex offenders, 
judged to be at highest risk, as Mr. Rodriguez was when he was let out 
of prison and then within 6 months allegedly murdered Dru Sjodin.
  When psychologists and psychiatrists evaluate sexual predators to be 
the highest risk, we cannot any longer say goodbye, so long, good luck 
at the prison door. We cannot let that happen again. We have to begin 
protecting innocent people. There are too many children whose lives are 
being lost.
  Again, this is not rocket science. We know what is happening here, 
and we know how to stop it. Mark Lunsford wrote to me after his 
daughter was murdered. He said:

       If my daughter's death is going to have any meaning, it 
     will be through your efforts strengthening existing laws, by 
     making our streets safe for all children. My heart continues 
     to break as I mourn the loss of my beautiful little girl. I 
     do not want other families to suffer as mine has, and I 
     believe your efforts will go far toward that important goal.

  My hope is that Senator Specter and many others who have cosponsored 
this bill that I have introduced will help to pass Dru's Law once again 
through the Senate, and then work hard to get it through the House and 
to the President's desk for signature. It is long

[[Page 15436]]

past the time this country has a national registry of sexual predators, 
violent sexual predators who all too often are getting away with 
murder.

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