Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress finds the following: Megan Nicole Kanka, who was 7 years old, was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in 1994, in the State of New Jersey by a violent predator living across the street from her home. Unbeknownst to Megan Kanka and her family, he had been convicted previously of a sex offense against a child. In 1996, Congress adopted Megan’s Law ( Public Law 104–145 ) as a means to encourage States to protect children by identifying the whereabouts of sex offenders and providing the means to monitor their activities.

Law enforcement reports indicate that known child-sex offenders are traveling internationally, and that the criminal background of such individuals may not be known to local law enforcement prior to their arrival. The commercial sexual exploitation of minors in child sex trafficking and pornography is a global phenomenon. The International Labour Organization has estimated that 1.8 million children worldwide are victims of child sex trafficking and pornography each year. Child sex tourism, where an individual travels to a foreign country and engages in sexual activity with a child in that country, is a form of child exploitation and, where commercial, child sex trafficking.

According to research conducted by The Protection Project of The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, sex tourists from the United States who target children form a significant percentage of child sex tourists in some of the most significant destination countries for child sex tourism. In order to protect children, it is essential that United States law enforcement be able to identify child-sex offenders in the United States who are traveling abroad and child-sex offenders from other countries entering the United States.

Such identification requires cooperative efforts between the United States and foreign governments. In exchange for providing notice of child-sex offenders traveling to the United States, foreign authorities will expect United States authorities to provide reciprocal notice of child-sex offenders traveling to their countries.

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Pub. L. 104-145

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Sec. 2

Findings

Pub. L.Pub. L. 104-145

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