NEW YORK—Sen. Charles Schumer announced his four-point plan to better monitor and track child batterers across the nation at a press conference on Sunday, in response to recent reports of serious child beatings in the New York metropolitan area.
According to Schumer, recent studies show that child batterers are four times more likely to repeat a crime than sex offenders, who already have a very high rate of repeating the crime, but there is almost no framework at all for a national system to monitor child batterers.
“If it’s four times as likely for a batterer, then the need for a list, the need to track them, the need to put them in jail for long periods of time is very, very real,” Schumer said.
The first part of the plan is to have the Department of Health and Human Services implement a master list, a database with immediate and comprehensive information on adults in homes where there is suspicion of child abuse, which would be available to child protective services and the local law enforcement.
The second point is for this list to be created at a national level. According to Schumer, studies have found that child batterers, like sex offenders, often cross state lines to avoid detection and repeat their crimes in the new location.
Third, Schumer is asking for tougher penalties on those who physically abuse children. Lastly, the senator would like to put the focus on the perpetrator, and not just the victim.
“We do look after the victim, now, but unless you go after the perpetrator, you won’t be able to stop the crime from occurring again,” Schumer said. “We need to do everything in our power to protect our children and keep violent cowards away from our kids. There is no reason for anyone with a violent history with kids to be near our children, terrorizing them in the home.”
Schumer noted that while there is authorization for a national registry of substantiated cases of child abuse within the Adam Walsh Act of 2006, there has not been funding for the implementation.
“Now, if we can do these four things, we can have the same success that we’ve had at reducing the amount of sexual predation of our children and have the same success against those who physically batter our children. We know that sex offenders have exceptionally high recidivism rates, and we track them for that reason. We need to do the same with cowards who violently beat our kids,” Schumer said.
According to Schumer, recent studies show that child batterers are four times more likely to repeat a crime than sex offenders, who already have a very high rate of repeating the crime, but there is almost no framework at all for a national system to monitor child batterers.
“If it’s four times as likely for a batterer, then the need for a list, the need to track them, the need to put them in jail for long periods of time is very, very real,” Schumer said.
The first part of the plan is to have the Department of Health and Human Services implement a master list, a database with immediate and comprehensive information on adults in homes where there is suspicion of child abuse, which would be available to child protective services and the local law enforcement.
The second point is for this list to be created at a national level. According to Schumer, studies have found that child batterers, like sex offenders, often cross state lines to avoid detection and repeat their crimes in the new location.
Third, Schumer is asking for tougher penalties on those who physically abuse children. Lastly, the senator would like to put the focus on the perpetrator, and not just the victim.
“We do look after the victim, now, but unless you go after the perpetrator, you won’t be able to stop the crime from occurring again,” Schumer said. “We need to do everything in our power to protect our children and keep violent cowards away from our kids. There is no reason for anyone with a violent history with kids to be near our children, terrorizing them in the home.”
Schumer noted that while there is authorization for a national registry of substantiated cases of child abuse within the Adam Walsh Act of 2006, there has not been funding for the implementation.
“Now, if we can do these four things, we can have the same success that we’ve had at reducing the amount of sexual predation of our children and have the same success against those who physically batter our children. We know that sex offenders have exceptionally high recidivism rates, and we track them for that reason. We need to do the same with cowards who violently beat our kids,” Schumer said.
