§ 21501. Findings

Congress finds the following:

• (1) 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.
• (2) 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.
• (3) 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.
• (4) Law enforcement reports indicate that known child-sex offenders are traveling internationally.
• (5) 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 1 So in original. Probably should be “18,000,000”. children worldwide are victims of child sex trafficking and pornography each year.
• (6) 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.