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| Lawmaker plans to make 'Amie's Law' national |
| By Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |
| Published: 06/13/2005 |
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Rep. Mark Green (R-Wis.) is planning to introduce federal legislation to mirror the state's newly enacted Amie's law, which gives authorities the discretion to inform the public of people on the sex predator list whose crimes occurred as juveniles. The state law was named for Amie Zyla, now 17, of Sussex, who was assaulted at age 8 by Joshua Wade, of Waukesha, when he was 14. Wade was convicted and served time at Ethan Allen School. Wade, now 24, pleaded guilty last Monday to two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of child enticement and faces up to 70 years in prison when he's sentenced Aug. 1. After his arrest in January, Wade, who claimed to be a youth mentor, told police he videotaped more than 30 children in his bathroom with a concealed camera and sexually assaulted some of them repeatedly, according to a criminal complaint. Assistant District Attorney Brad Schimel said authorities could identify only one boy when they viewed the tapes. Even though Wade was a registered sex offender required to report his presence to authorities, Waukesha police did no community notification on Wade because state law at the time barred disclosure of juvenile sexual offenses. Under the new law, police chiefs and sheriffs are responsible for assessing the public risk of each person on the registry whose offenses occurred as juveniles and notifying the community about those considered likely to re-offend. Green said his bill, which is likely to be part of a larger juvenile crime bill, would add the names of juveniles who have been convicted of serious sexual offenses to state databases. The current laws tried to protect juvenile offenders because the thought was "that somehow this person shouldn't be branded," he said. But with sexual offenders, he said, "We are dealing with a much higher recidivism rate than other types of crimes. "While I understand the thinking of protecting young people or giving them a chance to outgrow their criminal behavior," he said, "the problem with that thinking is that it puts the concerns of the offender above the safety concerns of the community to which he is released." Zyla said she and her father, Mark, plan to travel this week to Washington, D.C., where she is scheduled to testify in favor of the federal legislation at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. |
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Quite an interesting step taken by Lawmakers, I am looking to find more info about Amie's Law and how this has been for me, I really appreciate the concern for making new amendments, Will be waiting for more.