"Alicia's Law" Offers Protection to Child Victims
It was a big step forward in the fight against sexual predators this week, when Governor Walker signed "Alicia's Law," or Senate Bill 546, into law. I am blessed to work on a lot of important bills during my time in office, but I can honestly say I believe Alicia's Law is the most critical. It is almost impossible to believe, but in 2008, 7,000 unique Wisconsin computers were used to access crime scene recordings of the rape and torture of children under the age of 12. Research shows that more than half of child pornography possessors are hands-on offenders with local victims. This is sickening, and we must do everything we can to prevent these heinous crimes. I have lost sleep over this problem as we fought to pass this legislation, and I don't know how a decent person could not be deeply troubled that this is a real problem in our state. Alicia's Law, which I authored with Rep. Joel Kleefisch, streamlines the process of finding child sex predators and putting these monsters behind bars. The bill also provides $1 million in new funding to give investigators the necessary tools to find and rescue children who are victims of these horrendous crimes. Alicia's Law is named after Alicia Kozakiewicz (picture above), who at the age of 13, was kidnapped by an online "friend" taken to another state, and chained in a basement for four days before being rescued by FBI agents. This brave young woman is now a powerful advocate for others, and it was an honor to have Alicia attend the signing of the bill that bears her name. I am grateful that thanks to Alicia's extraordinary bravery and the hard work of all who worked on this critical bill, we can put more predators behind bars where they belong, and save Wisconsin children from unthinkable harm.
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