mr. chairman , i rise today to oppose the so-called child safety act , h.r. 3132 , because it forsakes meaningful crime reduction in favor of ineffective solutions that will only create a false illusion that our children are better protected from sexual abuse . 
we have all read with heartbreak and anger the horrible , the terrible stories of sexual abuse , abduction , and murder of children . 
it is clear that we need to protect children from sexual predators and pedophiles through stronger laws and better enforcement . 
i realize that voting against a bill with a title as attractive as this is easily misunderstood and mischaracterized . 
but i have never been one to vote for form over substance , nor to shy away from standing up for what is right regardless of the political slings and arrows . 
unfortunately , this bill will do more harm than good , and in the balance will do precious little to make our children safer . 
i hope the senate will do better . 
we need a real system that gives parents peace of mind and enables them to be aware of the presence of pedophiles in their neighborhood . 
a national sex offender registry , that is maintained by the united states department of justice is a very good idea that i support . 
members of every local community would be able to access this registry online , and be able to keep tabs on those who may pose harm to our children . 
states would notify each other when sex offenders move between states , and reporting requirements would be uniform so that it 's easier to keep the lists current and accurate . 
this is a sensible thing that we should be doing to protect our children . 
i would be proud to support it and i hope it will be addressed on the floor in a more rational way . 
that leads me to my overriding criticism of this bill : its flaws are so troubling and fundamental that it compels me to oppose passage despite my support of one component part . 
this bill creates 36 new mandatory minimum penalties . 
mandatory minimum penalties do not work . 
they discount mitigating factors in crimes , prevent judges from meting out punishments that are tailored to the criminal , and have been proven discriminatory to people of color . 
they do not work . 
they may make legislators feel good but they have been shown not to reduce crime rates . 
even the judicial conference , the group that represents federal judges , has said that mandatory minimums violate common sense . 
let me explain how just one of the new minimums will make us less safe , instead of more . 
if a previously convicted but released sex offender commits a technical violation of the reporting requirements -- for example , they miss the registration deadline by a day or a week -- they would receive a mandatory 5-year sentence . 
there is no discussion , and there can be no evaluation by a federal judge . 
the result is that sex offenders who miss the deadline or commit other technical violations will only be driven underground . 
instead of turning themselves in , they will go under the radar and into unsuspecting communities . 
this is exactly the opposite of what needs to happen . 
also troubling is the fact that this legislation creates two additional death penalties . 
yet , research has shown that capital punishment is not a deterrent to crime . 
let me repeat , the death penalty simply does not reduce crime . 
those who commit the most heinous and terrible crimes against our children should have to face being locked away for the rest of their lives , where they must contemplate their crimes until the end of their days , without posing harm to society . 
but expanding the already ineffective death penalty to crimes where the victim 's death is not even intentional is not only illogical , it is immoral . 
the government 's job is to prevent crime and punish criminals , often severely . 
but killing citizens in order to exact retribution is inappropriate for a government that seeks to be moral . 
we do need a child safety act , but it should be a real one . 
we need sensible punishments and preventative measures that will actually reduce sexual predation , not just talk tough . 
i am very disappointed that this bill weakens sound registration requirements and penalties by stacking them on fundamentally flawed provisions . 
it is my hope that sensible actions to protect our children are considered at the earliest possible date . 
