Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act - Legal Applications

Legal Applications

• Gives the U.S. Attorney General the authority to apply the law retroactively
• Gives a federal Judge the ability to civilly commit individuals who are in the custody of the federal prison system if it is proven that the individual (1) has engaged or attempted to engage in sexually violent conduct or child molestation; (2) suffers from a serious mental illness, abnormality, or disorder; and, (3) as a result, would have serious difficulty refraining from sexually violent conduct or child molestation if released. A hearing is available to the involuntarily committed individual every six months to reconsider their commitment status if requested by council or the person in the federal treatment program.
• Establishes a national database which will incorporate the use of DNA evidence collection and DNA registry and tracking of convicted sex offenders with Global Positioning System technology.
• The law defines and requires a three-tier classification system for sex offenders, based on offense committed, replacing the older system based on risk of re-offence.
• Tier 1 sex offenders are required to register for 10-15 years; tier 2 for 25 years and tier 3 offenders must register for life.
• Increases the mandatory minimum incarceration period of 25 years for kidnapping or maiming a child and 30 years for sex with a child younger than 12 or for sexually assaulting a child between 13 and 17 years old.
• Increases the penalties for sex trafficking of children and child prostitution.
• Widens federal funding to assist local law enforcement in tracking sexual exploitation of minors on the Internet.
• Creates a National Child Abuse Registry to protect children from being adopted by convicted child abusers.
• Limits the defense access to examine child exploitation material which is the subject of a charge, such that examination may only be conducted in a government building.