Congressman Pete King

Child Predators

Throughout my time in Congress, I have established a long-standing record of supporting legislation and initiatives to combat child predators. Protecting our children from dangerous criminals, whether online or on our neighborhood streets, has always been a top priority. I am an active member of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus and have introduced and supported legislation that protects our children from harm.

Below is some of what I have worked on in Congress dealing with this issue:

• Ensure Complete and Up-to-Date DNA Registration of Child Sex Offenders. The FBI is faced with a severe DNA backlog and when these cases go unprocessed, criminals cannot be convicted and are able to commit repeated crimes. This backlog must be eliminated, and in the last Congress I authored legislation to authorize funding to establish a grant program specifically for eliminating the DNA backlog of child sex offender cases.
• Curb Abuse of Cell Phone Technology in Exploiting Our Children. Child predators have more options today in the ways to victimize and exploit our children, thanks to constant advancements in technology. Since the introduction of camera phones, reported incidents of public voyeurism seem more common as predators use their phones to photograph children in changing rooms or to quietly snap photos of unsuspecting adolescent girls in shopping malls. In order to stay one step ahead of child predators, I previously introduced the Camera Phone Predator Alert Act, which would require mobile phones containing digital cameras to make a sound when a photograph is taken. The sound would alert the child or nearby parent of the predator’s actions, as well as serve as a deterrent to predators.
• Authorize and Fund the Sex Offender Registration Tips Program. I previously authored legislation to authorize funding for the Sex Offender Registration Tips (SORT) Program, a program that would seek to reduce sexual victimization by providing accurate sex offender registry information to law enforcement agencies and identifying sex offenders who fail to register. This program is run by the Long Island-based nonprofit Parents for Megan’s Law, Inc.