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“This failure to implement the law that makes those checks stronger and easier to accomplish locally endangers the very innocents we sought to protect. That’s why the Department of Justice needs to tell Congress what is going on and then get moving,” Sen. Schumer said.
By Forum Staff
The U.S. Department of Justice is failing to follow through on implementing a law passed more than a year ago that mainly protects kids through better employment background checks, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer fumed Sunday.
Schumer, joined by U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who has oversight on the issue in the House of Representatives, recently fired off an urgent letter to Attorney General William Barr and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray regarding the failure to implement the Child Protection Improvement Act by the March 2019 deadline, as required by law.
The CPIA, which was passed into law in March 2018, establishes a program to provide organizations with access to national criminal history background checks for individuals seeking to work with vulnerable populations, including children and the elderly. With improved access to FBI background checks, camps, after-school programs, and other organizations serving vulnerable populations will be better equipped to protect those in their care from physical, mental, or sexual abuse; identity theft; and other harms, Schumer said.
“We are troubled by the delay, and the fact that the department has missed the date mandated by CPIA to begin operation of this program by an egregious eight months,” he wrote.
In the letter, New York’s senior senator requests that the DOJ: provide an explanation as to what has prevented the agency from implementing CPIA by the mandated March 2019 deadline, as well as DOJ’s failure to properly communicate to Congress any intent to delay implementation; and provide an update on the expected timeline of a public comment period to solicit input from organizations serving vulnerable populations on their background-check needs and the criterion offenses that may be used in making a determination of fitness.
“This failure to implement the law that makes those checks stronger and easier to accomplish locally endangers the very innocents we sought to protect. That’s why the Department of Justice needs to tell Congress what is going on and then get moving,” Schumer said.
According to the New York Sex Offender Registry, there are more than 8,000 offenders living in the five boroughs. And according to the Rochester newspaper Democrat & Chronicle, as of 2016, the number of registered sex offenders in the Empire State has skyrocketed 60 percent from where it was a little more than a decade ago and now sits at around 39,000. And nationwide, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, more than 800,000 registered sex offenders live in the United States.
“There are dire consequences for children when pedophiles, and other unsafe adults in positions of trust, gain access to them. In-depth background checks are one of the most important tools that administrators of child-serving organizations have for hiring safe and appropriate employees and volunteers,” said Steve Forrester, director of Government Relations and Administration at the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. “The CPIA strengthens the screening process in all states, and must be implemented without further delay.”
Schumer has asked the DOJ to respond to the missive no later than Dec. 1.
