34 U.S.C. § 21501: Findings

Megan Nicole Kanka, who was 7 years old, was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in 1994, in the State of New Jersey by a violent predator living across the street from her home. Unbeknownst to Megan Kanka and her family, he had been convicted previously of a sex offense against a child. In 1996, Congress adopted Megan’s Law ( Public Law 104–145 ) as a means to encourage States to protect children by identifying the whereabouts of sex offenders and providing the means to monitor their activities. In 2006, Congress passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 ( Public Law 109–248 ) to protect children and the public at large by establishing a comprehensive national system for the registration and notification to the public and law enforcement officers of convicted sex offenders. Law enforcement reports indicate that known child-sex offenders are traveling internationally. The commercial sexual exploitation of minors in child sex trafficking and pornography is a global phenomenon. The International Labour Organization has estimated that 1,8000,000 1 children worldwide are victims of child sex trafficking and pornography each year. 1 So in original. Probably should be “18,000,000”. Child sex tourism, where an individual travels to a foreign country and engages in sexual activity with a child in that country, is a form of child exploitation and, where commercial, child sex trafficking.