Neal Dunn: “Mr. Chairman, today I and my colleagues from New Jersey and California offer the Dunn-Pappas-Cunningham amendment to the…”

“Mr. Chairman, today I and my colleagues from New Jersey and California offer the Dunn-Pappas-Cunningham amendment to the Juvenile Crime Control Act of 1997. This week as the trial of Megan Kanka's accused killer begins, we are reminded how important it is to have a process in place that will ensure that communities will be notified when a violent sexual predator is released. We offer today, Mr. Chairman, an amendment to take Megan's Law one prudent step further. Our amendment will require States to submit a plan to the U.S. Attorney General describing a process by which parents will be notified when a juvenile sex offender is released and readmitted into a school system. Some of our colleagues may wonder why notification under Megan's Law is not enough. Mr. Chairman, sometimes our schools include students from a variety of communities. Community notification, therefore, will not reach some of the parents of these children. Without this knowledge, parents would not be able to take the necessary precautions to protect their children from being victims of a possible reoffense. It would be wrong and very possibly tragic, Mr. Chairman, to put juvenile sex offenders back into the school system without notifying the parents of the other students.”