We did it! It took over two years of hard work and struggle, but the PROTECT Our Children Act was signed into law on October 13, 2008. This landmark legislation sets a course for federal action that could rescue untold thousands of American children.
12 Essays in Celebration of Victory...
You're not likely to see it on the evening news. It might not even make it into your daily paper. Nevertheless, the passage of the California Circle of Trust bill is a landmark event, potentially affecting far more children, all across America, than the headline-grabbing laws named after murdered children so popular in the news these days.
The explosion of child pornography trafficking and online luring has
put millions of California children in danger. Sen. Jim Battin's War on
Child Predators bill -- sponsored by PROTECT -- would give law
enforcement desperately-needed resources to rescue children and stop
known predators.
"House Appropriations Committee chairman Lacey Putney, I-Bedford, said
he got a call from Alicia's mother and parents from Memphis, Tenn.,
Portland, Ore., Washington, D.C., and California. Each urged
legislators to bolster the funding..."
-Associated Press
(MARCH 14, 2008) Portland, Oregon... you know who you are.
You're another PROTECT member who helped flood the Virginia statehouse
with phone calls for Alicia's Law. In a close, see-saw fight that
caused a $78 billion budget negotiation to grind to a halt, who can say
it wasn't your call that tipped the balance?
Last night, the Virginia legislature voted to appropriate $1.5 million
to combat exploding child exploitation. First among the backers of the
legislation was Delegate Brian Moran, who stood by the side of 19-year
old Alicia Kozakiewicz throughout what became one of PROTECT's toughest
state battles in recent years. From the trenches, it was clear Moran is
the right stuff when it comes to fighting sexual predators. Other
leaders behind the legislation include Sen. Creigh Deeds (D), Del.
Beverly Sherwood (R) and Del. Phil Hamilton (R).
The funding, which was the heart of Alicia's Law, will go to Virginia's
two Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces. It will be
used to get local police and sheriff's departments into the business of
combatting child exploitation, use new technology to target child
pornography traffickers and Internet predators, and find and rescue
children.
Among the campaigners who joined Alicia on the ground in Richmond were
Sheriff Mike Brown, who heads the Southern Virginia ICAC, PROTECT
national advisory board member David Keith and Alicia's mother Mary
Kozakiewicz, a founding member of the Surviving Parents Coalition
(SPC). The SPC has emerged as a national leader on the issue of child
exploitation, calling for authorities to use new technologies to track
perpetrators back through the Internet and rescue children. Virginia
crime victim advocate Joan Fenton was critical in mobilizing the entire
Virginia effort.
An impressive online coalition came together to pound on budget
conferees, including The Virginia Family Foundation and a network of
political bloggers, including Not Larry Sabato, Raising Kaine, 750
Volts, VB Dems and Fred2Blue.
Virginia now becomes the third state where PROTECT has succeeded in
winning state funding for anti-child exploitation efforts. Existing
ICAC task forces in all 50 states are funded by small federal grants
from the Department of Justice. While that program has been an enormous
success (creating an emerging infrastructure for law enforcement) state
and local investment and leadership is now desperately-needed.
California and Tennessee both entered the ICAC arena last year, and
PROTECT plans to work for new resources in North Carolina in the coming
months.
