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'America's Most Wanted': President Barack Obama sits down with John Walsh
On Saturday, March 6, FOX celebrates 1,000 episodes of the venerable crime-fighting series "America's Most Wanted," and host and noted victims-rights advocate John Walsh takes the opportunity to make an in-person pitch to President Barack Obama.In July 2006, then-President George W. Bush signed into law the Adam Walsh Child Safety and Protection Act (H.R. 4472), which had among its sponsors Vice President Joe Biden, who was then the senator from Delaware.
The bill is named after Walsh's son, who was abducted and murdered at the age of 6, more than a quarter-century ago. That event propelled Walsh, a Florida land developer, into the public eye and eventually led to him being named as host of "America's Most Wanted."
According to Walsh, Congress has yet to fund the bill, intended to create a national sex-offender registry and pursue serious sex offenders who are not complying with legal requirements. The act does have its critics, who have concerns about its implementation and constitutionality.
At the beginning of February, between trips to Haiti and Central America, Walsh spoke to Zap2it about his struggle to get the bill fully funded.
"There are 100,000 convicted, Level Three [offenders out there]," Walsh says. "It's not the guy that peed at Mardis Gras; not the 18-year-old kid that had sex with his 16-year-old girlfriend, consensual sex, and now the father hates him, so he has to register. It's not those guys, but the really bad guys, and it still isn't funded.
"They bailed out AIG; they bailed out Citigroup; they bailed out GM. And there's 100,000 convicted sex offenders and rapists of women, Level Three, in violation of their parole and probation, floating around this country, and they haven't allocated the money to the U.S. Marshals and FBI to look for them.
"So, that's on my mission, going to the White House in, I think, about two weeks, to try to say, 'How could this bill be passed by the House and Senate and not be funded in three years?'"
According to Walsh, he had a Biden staffer with him in Haiti.
"I love Joe Biden," Walsh says. "He was a co-sponsor of this act. This congress is so busy bailing out everybody, and I said to his [aide], 'How could anybody be in this Rose Garden, sign this bill and not fund it? How could this congress, with all this bulls*** and all the money that they're bailing out everybody with, not fund the Adam Walsh Act?'"
Well, Walsh got his chance to buttonhole the man at the top, on-camera, and on Saturday, "America's Most Wanted" viewers will get to see what Obama said.
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I understand there are some bad people out there we all want protection from. However Mr. Walsh does not speak the truth about the act not talking about the guy peeing or the consentual sex case. The AWA does put everyone under the same umbrella. It does contain retroactive laws that are being found as expo facto punishment in many states. I had a "sex crime" 25 years ago. Nothing that bad. I never went to prison. It was not an intended situation, but a girl that lied about her age. We did not have sex. I cooperated fully, my first mistake. I got is some trouble but like I said no prison. I had a plea bargain and fallowed all punishment put on me. I moved on with my life. TEN years later I was forced onto the sex offender reg. retroactivly. It ruined my life, caused my divorce, loss of job and home. I rebuilt my life all while putting up with police harrasment. Then after the AWA I was forced onto the public internet for the first time for all to see. I was made a tier 2 offender because of age differance in 1985. My life has been ruined yet again as people now think I rape little kids. I have no legal options except to try and have the laws changed. I am stuck for life with these and any other retroactive laws the vote mongers can come up with. I feel for Mr. Walsh, I really do. I wish he would tell me how putting me and my family through all this for 25 years has made anything better for anyone. No I have never had a sex crime before or after 1985 and I was not looking for that one. The insult that the law maker and judge keeps saying is the registration is not further punishment, REALLY NOW! Maybe if the AWA was changed to be constitutional it would get some funding. What you have now is an act that put the spot light on many law makers for votes at the time. However like most things the law maker used it and forgot it. Not a bad thing in this situation as most of the act is illegal. Sorry John Don't tread on me anymore.
What chuck says is very true. People are being pulled with crimes of anything sexual in nature from decades ago and being forced onto this registration. They may have had no crimes in decades yet they are now put out on the whipping post for all to see and hate. Many of these people are kids with consentual sex that are ruined for life. People are being placed on these tiers with no evaluation at all. Most are not even aloud to be evaluated. The reg. is so watered down with nothing crimes that it has become a joke. Just a way for people to have a real life reality show at there finger tips. Forcing a person to live a certain distance from a school yet they can travel there and work around there does nothing but make people feel good. If your crime was before the law then it is further punishment. Saying it is not is a lie. Now the big thing is removing anyone with a sex crime from face book and such. Parents will say yes I want to know that when my kid is on the PC they are not in danger. Yes well that is like saying I want to know when I place my kid in the middle of a highway they will not be hurt. There are many bad people out there. Always have been and always will be. The parents want there baby sitter the PC to be taken over by the gov. so they can feel better. Step up and be a parent. Take notice of what your kid is doing. Watch out for uncle bob and cousin dave as they may just be the person messing with your kid. I am sorry for your loss Mr. Walsh but stop hurting people now to make up for your loss. If a person is bad enough to be a tier 3 offender then what are they doing on the street in the first place? I have a young family member who was sexting at school. Dumb a-- yes. Pedophile and a danger no. Yet he is there beside the child rapist on the registration for all to see. His life is all but done. He can't even work at Mcdonalds as they don't hire sex offenders. Does this make you feel better Mr. Walsh? Does it bring your son back? Make some big changes to the act and maybe you will get what you want. If a law maker is not getting votes out of sex offender laws then they want to stay as far from them as they can. People are starting to see the truth. At one time if a law maker was voting down any kind of sex law he feared being voted out. Now it has gone so far that the same law maker needs to worry about being voted out because of stupid feel good laws. Notice either way it's all about votes. Maybe after we get all this sex offender stuff sorrted out we can start forming the murderer reg. The drug dealer, the DUI reg. the bad parent reg. Hey we can all be on a list for everyone to see. After all reality TV gets the best ratings. Don't we all just love to know what our neighbor has done or is doing. Plus people get votes for doing nothing. Go America
I do not have a sex offence nor do I know anyone with one. I am a hard working parent that pays his huge taxes that hates child molesters as much as the next person. However after much research I can see the truth about these laws. The truth is some good intentional laws have been twisted and expanded only because it makes people think they are safe. Law makers have seen a golden chance for votes. They come up with as many sex crime laws as they can and stand up and say I'm getting tough on sex offenders so vote for me. Even if they did not want to vote for a law they did so as the next person trying to get there job would stand up and say so and so does not care about you kids so vote for me. The money being wasted comes from all of us. These votes are being paid for by all of us. Why am I paying for anyone that had a sex crime 20 or 30 years ago and nothing else? Why do they need to be tracked daily. Have we gone so far that we want to track a person for life becouse of what they may or may not do. Does not matter if they have lived a good life or not. I want my hard earned tax money to go for laws that do something other than keep some idot in office longer than he or she should be. Next is we have let the law maker take the constitution and spit on it. It may as well be used as toilet paper now. I am for real protection and I am also for the constitution. Changing it for feel good laws is the crumbling of our country. If they can change it for this then they can change it for anything. I guess people will be happy when we all need to show our papers to a cop just for walking down the street. As long as it is in the name of protection then I guess everyone is good with it. I urge you all to tell your law maker you are on to them. Change these feel good laws that cost millions and hurt tens of thousands for no reason. Re vamp the AWA into an act that may do somthing or get rid or it. Put some of those millions it takes to track people into keeping them in prison if there crime was that bad. It is clear our congress can't do much as they are to busy hating the other side to get anything done. Sounds like to gangs fighting for turf and nothing ever good comes from that. As long as they get there votes they are happy and time moves on. Elections are soon. Tell your law maker you have had enough of these laws and vote for the person that will help change this. Also vote out anyone that does nothing but point fingers at the other side. They are a waste of space and money. They do not represent the hard working person. They represent the over paid person that does nothing.
It sounds to me like this chuck person is not telling all. All sex offenders need to die a slow death. I don't care when there crime was they are all pervs and need to be hunted down.
Glad I noticed this before I logged off. Hey Billy after 25 years I am very used to people like you. When you have nothing real to say your kind always calls me a liar and tells me I need to die. Sorry sir but I do not lie at all. I suppose you are one that I need to be carefull of. One of the non punishing situations caused by these retroactive laws is I and my family always need to worry about idots like Bill showing up at our home with a gun. It has happened to others in the past. Shot down as they had been picked out of the registry at random to die at the hands of some misinformed angry person. Ah thats not punishment as well I am told. Chill Bill
The only reason Walsh is pushing for this draconic law is; He is an owner of the Company that contract GPS monitoring of Sex Offenders. It's all about money folks!
Bill you are an idiot!!!
I agree with taking measures to protect the public against the most serious of criminal offenders. I do not agree, however, with singling out one specific type of offender. As "fed up" mentioned, why do we register sex offenders but not serial killers, career drug dealers, repeat burglars, etc. The public has become so paranoid about one type of crime that they completely ruin the lives of people that have offenses the equivalent of getting a speeding ticket in order to make sure all the really heinous ones suffer too.
i said one more time he know what happen' to his son