President Backs System to Track Child Molesters

Launching another election-year initiative to help shield the nation’s children, President Clinton on Saturday directed the Justice Department to devise a nationwide plan to track child molesters and sex offenders.

In his weekly radio address and in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors here, Clinton endorsed the idea of such a nationwide registry as the logical “next step” to laws that require states to track sex offenders and to notify communities when a child molester is released from prison.

“We respect people’s rights, but there is no right greater than a parent’s right to raise a child in safety and love,” Clinton said in his radio talk. “That’s why the law should follow those who prey on America’s children wherever they go, state to state, town to town.”

The announcement is another in Clinton’s continuing effort to neutralize Republican charges that he is soft on crime and to position himself as defender of the family.

The call for a nationwide sex offender registry thus joins a litany of “family values” issues that the president is stressing this election season.

Sex offenders can now be expected to join the list of administration villains that includes the tobacco companies, producers of violent entertainment programming and manufacturers of high-powered weapons.

Statistics provided by the White House indicate that rapists and other sex offenders are much more likely than other criminals to commit new crimes.

“We must make sure police officers in every state can get the information they need from any state to track sex offenders down and bring them to justice when they commit new crimes,” Clinton said.

The American Civil Liberties Union has opposed notification laws and is expected to object on civil rights grounds to a nationwide registry of released convicts.

“We assume the ACLU will challenge us on this, but we believe we have the law on our side,” said senior White House aide Rahm Emanuel, who works on criminal-justice issues. “We are not calling for any vigilantism, but we do think that police and parents have the right to be prepared to protect their children and secure their communities.”

Clinton endorsed a bill sponsored by Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and Phil Gramm (R-Texas) to develop a national registry to track sex criminals. Rep. Dick Zimmer (R-N.J.) has introduced similar legislation in the House.

“They’re on the right track, but we have to move forward now, and we can,” Clinton said in the radio address. “Today I’m directing the attorney general to report back in 60 days with a plan to guarantee our police officers this information right away.”

Saturday’s action follows two earlier moves to crack down on criminals who prey on children.

The 1994 anti-crime law requires each state to compile a registry of sex offenders and gives states the authority to notify communities about child sex offenders who move into residential areas.

Last month, Clinton signed the Republican-sponsored “Megan’s Law,” that makes community notification mandatory when a sexual criminal is released from prison, paroled or placed on probation.

The law was named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka of New Jersey, who was raped and murdered two years ago. A twice-convicted child molester who lived on her block was charged with the crime.

“Too many children and their families have paid a terrible price because parents didn’t know about the dangers hidden in their own neighborhood,” Clinton said in the radio address. “Megan’s Law . . . will help to prevent more of these terrible crimes.”

In his speech to the mayors, Clinton reviewed the administration’s anti-crime efforts and noted that the GOP majority in Congress had blocked a number of programs aimed at preventing crime.

Clinton said he would continue to work for such preventive programs as after-school activities and midnight basketball leagues, even though they have little chance of passage in the current political climate.

But the president insisted that stiffer sentences and the construction of more prison cells alone would not by themselves end the nation’s addiction to violence.

“We cannot jail our way out of this crisis,” Clinton told the mayors. “We have to find a way to change the culture of America.”

Clinton has offered rhetorical support for community initiatives that do not require federal laws or funds, such as school uniforms and curfews, that he believes reduce youth crime.

“These things are helping,” Clinton told his radio audience.