Texas Predator Prevention Act of 2007

THEIR VOICE has a call out to every grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, aunt, uncle.

For every Texas citizen who has enjoyed watching the sheer exuberance of a child waiting to open up a birthday present, it is our responsibility as adults to protect the innocence of children. Will you join hands with us to strengthen child predator laws by supporting the Texas Predator Prevention Act of 2007?

Sexual assault is the most common serious harms that a child can experience (1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys). A quarter of a million children are sexually assaulted every year in Texas (National Crime Victims Research and Treatment, 2000). In 2003, there were only 45,000 sex offenders on the Texas Department of Public Safetys Database.

The Council on Sex Offender Treatment estimates that only 20\% of these crimes are ever reported. Much research has been done as to why victims stay quiet. The best answer is simply because they are children. They do not know what else to do. The trauma of the crime and the ability of a pedophile to scare victims into silence causes a multitude of destructive behaviors on the part of the victim as he/she deals with the pain alone.

Rhonda Kuykendall, Executive Director of Their Voice Speaking for Victims of Child Sex Assault writes, Children who are sexually abused will show no outward signs no black eyes or bruised cheeks. For the victim, their signs are fear, mistrust, aggression, prostitution and drug addiction and with every misdeed that they commit it only reaffirms their belief that they were to blame from the very beginning. Someone who is able must be their voice.

On average one pedophile assaults over 100 victims. In Texas a sex offender can be sentenced for as little as 5 years for aggravated sexual assault. Although an offender may receive a 5 year sentence, this does not mean that he/she will serve 5 years. In some cases, offenders will only serve as little as half of their sentence. By leaving it up to a judges discretion, offenders will spend less time in prison and society as a whole is at risk. If one pedophile assaults over 100 victims, keeping one pedophile in prison will save over 100 victims.


Please be THEIR VOICE in the Texas 80th Legislative Session in 2007! Sign onto our petition as a supporter of the Texas Predator Prevention Act of 2007.

The Texas Predator Prevention Act of 2007 will:

1. Increase the penalty of child sexual assault to life in prison or a split sentence of mandatory minimum 25 year prison sentence followed by lifetime supervision with electronic monitoring.

2. Increase sexual offender registration and reporting requirements.

3. Abolish the statute of limitations on child sex crimes.

4. Add the charge sexual performance by a child, Section 43.25 Texas Penal Code to the Civil Commitment law as established in Art. 4, Title 11, Health & Safety Code, Chapter 841.

5. Require offenders to notify law enforcement within 5 days of changes in registry requirement.

7. Designate failure to register or harboring and assisting a predator as a third degree felony.

For detailed information on each of these points, please visit www.theirvoice.org and click on Texas Predator Prevention Act of 2007.

Thank you in advance for your support. We must not wait for crimes such as the Lunsford case in Florida or the Groehne case in Idaho!