Bob Franks: “I rise to briefly turn my colleagues' attention to two of its important provision. But first I want to share with you a…”

“I rise to briefly turn my colleagues' attention to two of its important provision. But first I want to share with you a tragic incident which was covered in depth this morning on NBC's Today Show. Twenty-five years ago, seven year old Joan D'Alessandro left her home in Hillsdale, New Jersey, to deliver Girl Scout cookies to a neighbor. Three days later, that neighbor, a 26 year old schoolteacher, confessed to sexually molesting and then murdering little Joan. But for the D'Alessandro family, the nightmare had just begun. For the past 12 years, they have had to live with the very real prospect that one day soon their daughter's killer would be set free. Rosemarie D'Alessandro, Joan's mother, has been fighting this terrible injustice. She has been the driving force behind a provision in this bill that would mandate a sentence of no less than life imprisonment with no opportunity for early release for anyone who commits a serious violent felony which results in the death of a child.”