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Sen. Santorum [R-PA]: Mr. President, H.R. 3402, the Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act, includes "technical changes" to legislation known as "Aimee's Law." I am dismayed...

Record Text

Sen. Richard Santorum [R-PA]: Mr. President, H.R. 3402, the Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act, includes "technical changes" to legislation known as "Aimee's Law." I am dismayed that the Department of Justice has waited until now to take the adequate steps to implement this legislation. I sponsored this legislation in the Senate, which was signed into law by President Clinton in October 2000. The law was to be implemented in 2002. I believe that 3 years is more than adequate time to implement this critical protection for my constituents.

Aimee's Law is named after Aimee Willard, a college senior from suburban Philadelphia who was brutally raped and murdered by a convicted murderer who was released early in Nevada and crossed State lines to kill again in Pennsylvania. Aimee's mother, Gail, became a tireless advocate to prevent such unnecessary tragedies from happening to other families, culminating in the passage of Aimee's Law in the U.S. Senate by an 81-to-17 margin and its final inclusion in H.R. 3244, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act conference report, which also included the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization, Pub. L. 106-386. Aimee's Law is narrowly tailored to address the heinous crimes of murder, rape, and child molestation.

The law is designed to protect the residents of one State from the negligence of another State. The law assists States which recognize that the primary responsibility of State and local governments is to maintain public safety. Sexual predators have the highest rate of recidivism of any category of violent crime. The law simply provides that States where a subsequent similar violent crime occurs because of an early release will be reimbursed for the prosecution and incarceration costs through a reduction of future Federal funds from the allocation of the State where the original violent crime and conviction occurred.

I wish to state for the record that I will not object to the "technical changes" of Aimee's Law in H.R. 3402 as the Department of Justice assures me that the law will be implemented within six months. While I think that it is unacceptable that it has taken this long to take the appropriate steps to implement this law, I am hopeful that Aimee's Law will finally and effectively be implemented in the very near future so other families do not suffer the same fate as the Williards.