Bill Nelson: “About 5 minutes. I thank the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma. I know this is a subject that he is quite concerned…”

“About 5 minutes. I thank the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma. I know this is a subject that he is quite concerned with. The Nation was gripped with the news of this sexual predator who walked into the unlocked home of a 9-year-old, Jessica Lunsford, in Homossassa, FL, took her from her bed--I want the Senator from Oklahoma to listen to the emotion in my voice. He walked into her unlocked home, took her from her bed, raped her, and then buried her alive. The man who is charged is a registered sex offender, previously convicted of molesting a minor, but law enforcement had lost track of him. In fact, he was living within 150 feet of Jessica Lunsford. To add insult to injury, he was working at an elementary school. Unfortunately, it did not stop there. About a month later, 13-year- old Sarah Lunde was abducted from her home in Rushkin, FL, and she was murdered. Her confessed killer is her mother's ex-boyfriend, who is also a convicted sex offender. In our State alone, we have over 30,000 registered sex offenders, and there are more than 300,000 nationwide. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has provided data showing that 70 percent of all the men in prison for a sex crime were men whose victim was a child. In 2003, the Justice Department published a report on recidivism rates of sex offenders, and it has produced some disturbing statistics. The Department of Justice tracked 9,691 male sex offenders released from 15 State prisons, including Florida.…”