Hawley Leads Bill to Protect Children, Toughen Sentences for Child Porn Offenders

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the PROTECT Act of 2022, which protects children from sexual exploitation by enhancing the penalties for possessing child pornography and by preventing judges from sentencing offenders below federal guidelines. The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). Representative Ken Buck (CO-4) is introducing companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

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28 thoughts on “Hawley Leads Bill to Protect Children, Toughen Sentences for Child Porn Offenders

  • April 2, 2022

    As Prosecutor, Hawley Sentenced Violent Sex Abuser To Probation — Not Prison
    Josh Israel, The National Memo
    March 25, 2022

    …”While Hawley has never served as a judge, he does have experience prosecuting sex crime cases as Missouri’s attorney general from 2017 to 2019. Although that office has only a small prosecutorial role in the state’s criminal justice system, Hawley’s brief tenure was marred by criticism of his handling of sexual abuse claims by victims.

    In January 2021, the Kansas City Star published a guest column by Pam Hamilton, a former Hawley appointee who questioned his handling of human trafficking cases. “I was on Josh Hawley’s human trafficking task force,” the headline of Hamilton’s story read. “He sought TV cameras, not justice.”

    One prosecution Hawley did handle as attorney general was a 2018 sexual abuse and domestic assault case against former Knox County Sheriff Robert Becker. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s probable cause statement, Becker was charged with violent sexual encounters against his former partner, who alleged he “choked” her with a shirt in one instance.

    Instead of bringing the case to trial, Hawley agreed to a plea deal in which Becker served no jail time and instead received two years of probation and resigned his office.

    “There is no place for law enforcement officers who abuse their power,” Hawley said at the time. “As a result of today’s plea, Mr. Becker can no longer serve in any law enforcement capacity. The Knox County community is safer as a result of today’s action.”

    Hawley stepped down as Missouri’s top law enforcement official in January 2019 after he was elected to the U.S. Senate. His successor, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, eventually filed probation violations in court against Becker. In November 2020 a judge ruled that Becker had failed to complete the mandatory sexual offender counseling required under the plea bargain and sentenced him to 20 days of “shock incarceration” — jail time intended to “shock” an offender into avoiding future crimes.

    A spokesperson for Hawley did not immediately respond to an inquiry for this story.”

    Hm. Think ol’ HEE-HAW-ley is merely trying to make up for past failures?

    Reply
  • April 1, 2022

    The vast majority of producers and recievers of child porn are children sexting each other. Oops.

    I hope the children of these blowhards get caught under their daddy’s own laws. These men deserve to have their families viciously and mercilessly taken from them by the machine they feed and grow to attack others. May their lives and souls be laid low and broken.

    Reply
    • April 1, 2022

      Citation needed for ‘the vast majority of producers and receivers of child porn are children.’

      Reply

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