Hatch is pushing tougher sex-offender laws

WASHINGTON — A constantly updated and nationally coordinated sex-offender database would not have prevented the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart from her Salt Lake bedroom.

But it would help prevent the accused kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell, from preying on another victim, Elizabeth's father says.

"I believe he will do it again," said Ed Smart, Elizabeth's father, who was in the nation's capital Wednesday in support of legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that would overhaul sex-offender laws to make it easier for law enforcement to track parolees as they move from state to state.

Smart joined with the parents of other victimized children, some of whom are missing and some of whom have been murdered, to call on Congress to enact the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

Hatch praised Smart and the other parents, saying, "Instead of lying down, they are standing up for imposing common-sense rules on those who have taken the life and liberty of the most innocent and defenseless among us. They are standing up for tough sentences against those who won't abide by these very simple rules."

Among other things, the legislation would:

• Require convicted sex offenders to register as such before they are released from prison and to update the information at least twice a year — four times a year if they are a violent predator.

• Require they remain on the register for 20 years for first-time offenders and for their entire lives for repeat offenders.

• Require an annual update of offender photographs and prints as part of the registry.

• Require first-time offenders to wear a tracking device for the duration of the parole or probation, and repeat offenders would have to wear the device the rest of their lives.

• Make it a felony if sex offenders failed to register or update the registry.

"If they don't want to comply with the rules, then they go to jail. It's that simple," Hatch said.

Hatch predicted there would be no opposition to the bill in the Senate.

The bipartisan bill is being sponsored by Hatch and Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., in the Senate and by Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., and Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Ala., in the House.

"This is not a partisan issue; our children are not a partisan issue," Smart said.

Foley said the legislation is not a knee-jerk reaction to the recent spate of kidnappings and murders of children around the country by repeat sex offenders. Rather, he has been working over the past seven months with John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted," whose own son was kidnapped and murdered, to develop model legislation acceptable to the U.S. Justice Department and children's advocates.