News

_{Alicia and actor David Keith join lawmakers}

RICHMOND - House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran and Appropriations Vice-Chairman Phil Hamilton (R-Newport News) today announced success with “Alicia’s Law” that will provide new investments to help law enforcement crack down on online child sex predators. They were joined by Alicia and Mary Kozkeiwicz, actor David Keith, Delegate Bobby Mathieson (D-Virginia Beach), Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown and representatives of the National Association to Protect Children. Together they announced the first significant appropriation of statewide funds to build a strong network of law enforcement officers to investigate, arrest and imprison online child sex predators. The House Appropriations Committee budget included a $1.25 million investment in the Southern and Northern VA Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces (ICAC), which will allow a 100 percent increase in cases investigated and arrests made. The House budget will now go to the Senate of Virginia and be reconciled in conference prior to March 8th.

“This investment will provide a 100 percent increase in arrests made and a significant increase in the number of children saved,” said Delegate Brian Moran. “I thank my Republican and Democratic colleagues on Appropriations for seeing the merit of the program and making this critical investment. As a former prosecutor, I know our law-enforcement officers need the tools and resources required to protect us, and as the father of two young children, I couldn’t be happier that we’ve taken this great first step.”

The initiative is named after Alicia Kozakiewicz – the 13-year-old girl who was abducted by an Internet predator, held hostage and tortured in his Virginia basement. Earlier this month, regional ICAC Task Force members announced that nearly 20,000 computers in Virginia contain hardcore child pornography.

In commenting on the funding initiative by the House, Delegate Phil Hamilton said, “Internet sex crimes are invading our homes and attacking Virginia’s children. This funding will assist these two task forces in addressing this plague on our society.”

The House Appropriations Committee recommends an additional $1.25 million in funding for the regional ICAC Task forces, the largest investment in recent history to crack down on online child sex predators. These new funds increase local police capacity, allowing more of these criminals to be stopped. In approximately 30 percent of child pornography cases, there is a local victim that can be rescued by stopping their predator.

“We will put special focus on finding and helping child victims like Alicia,” Delegate Moran said. “As the prison cells begin to slam shut and we rescue more children, we may be back in Richmond for reinforcements.”

The new funds for each regional ICAC will make it possible to:

• add new analysts and investigators, allowing for a 100 percent increase in cases worked and 100 percent increase in the number of arrests;
• provide new training programs to affiliated agencies within the ICAC; and
• acquire new equipment, such as dedicated high-speed Internet and electronic forensic equipment for affiliated agencies

“This might be the first government program ever that taxpayers would gladly pay more to fund,” National Association to Protect Children spokesman Grier Weeks said. “These officers do only one thing: rescue and protect children.”

The following data is from the central ICAC database in the Wyoming regarding Virginians trafficking in child pornography. What follows are the top 30 regions of known child pornography on hard drives distributed through peer-to-peer networks.

Virginia Beach	1956
Norfolk	1367
Richmond	1256
Herndon	1058
Newport News	887
Chesapeake	815
Hampton	674
Alexandria	657
Fairfax	507
Arlington	503
Woodbridge	467
Roanoke	406
Falls Church	386
Reston	373
Fredericksburg	360
Manassas	353
Portsmouth	336
Ashburn	319
Springfield	246
Charlottesville	243
Williamsburg	229
Yorktown	226
Midlothian	222
Centreville	203
Vienna	162
Stafford	156
Annandale	152
Harrisonburg	147
Lynchburg	139
Winchester	136
Mc Lean	129
Waynesboro	124
Blacksburg	121
Warrenton	105

RICHMOND – House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran made the following statement this morning after the Courts of Justice committee delayed action on the “Child Toy Safety Act”. The committee voted 12-10 to continue the legislation to 2009 during a late meeting Friday, February 8.

In 2005, more than 73,000 kids went to the emergency room because of dangerous and toxic toys, and more than 9 million toys were recalled last year. The “Child Toy Safety Act” was supported by Voices for Virginia’s Children and the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians.

“As the father of two young children, I’m disappointed the committee delayed action on such a pressing safety concern for Virginia’s children,” Moran said. “More than 73,000 kids went to the emergency room last year because of unsafe toys – more will next year without quick action. This is a common-sense measure to make sure no parent worries that the toy they give their child could send them to the hospital.”

The “Child Toy Safety Act” would:

• Direct the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Health to remove recalled toys from the shelves of stores in Virginia and to consider the development of standards for toys in the Commonwealth.
• Mandate new regulations for Virginia’s Child Daycare Council that would keep lead-based toys and toys containing other carcinogens away from children in both home-based child care facilities and in child-care centers.
• Create a new civil penalty for stores that knowingly resell recalled toys.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission has only one toy tester and a tiny force of 15 inspectors to check millions of toys at hundreds of ports of entry. Lead exposure in children can cause damage to the brain and nervous system, behavioral and learning problems, slowed growth, hearing problems, and headaches.

To review the legislation, click here.

_{over 2,500 children could be rescued}

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran was joined by law enforcement and children protection groups to brief members of the House of Delegates on “Alicia’s Law”. The plan, named after the 13-year-old victim of an online predator, will create a strong statewide network of highly trained law enforcement to track down and arrest child sex predators. During the briefing, Delegate Moran released results from the Internet Crimes Against Children database that showed 19,357 hard drives with hard core pornography here in Virginia since 2005.

Delegate Moran was by joined Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown and Lt. Mike Harmony of the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) and Srgt Johnny Hall and Det. John Chapman of the Northern Virginia ICAC to brief members of the House of Delegates on “Alicia’s Law”.

The briefing included a live demonstration of the national online system that identifies and cracks down on predators. According to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces presentation, law enforcement has logged 215,197 felony transactions since 2005 in Virginia of the most brutal images of child pornography. During the presentation, ICAC members reviewed sample hard drive analysis of a child pornographer in the Richmond metro area.

“This new information makes a compelling case for the General Assembly’s swift action on Alicia’s Law,” Moran said. “With thousands of online predator’s active in Virginia, we must build the capacity to track and arrest them. After spending time with Alicia, learning her story and hearing the compelling information from law enforcement, I know now – more than ever – how important it is to the victims, their families and the community that we act.”

“Alicia’s Law” would increase law-enforcement capacity to crack down on Internet child sex predators by:

• Expanding the regional Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program to ensure we have one cyber unit in each county dedicated to these cases. The ICAC officers are on the front lines of tracking cyber predators and this provides them with the resources desperately needed to expand staff and facilities and build the infrastructure necessary to capture these known offenders.
• Creating three regional computer forensic labs dedicated to crimes against children. The computer forensic backlog is the single-greatest bottleneck for law enforcement. Officers report that sometimes they wait months to have a hard drive analyzed. The time lost results in more children being put at risk.
• Authorizing a grant program in the Department of Criminal Justice Services for additional localities that take on the effort to track and catch online predators.

According to a 2005 study by the Department of Justice, 55% of Child pornography possessors had committed contact offenses. And, according to ICAC, 30% of these cases would result in the rescue of a local victim. That means, out of these known traffickers, we could conservatively rescue over 2500 children here in Virginia.

“Delegate Moran’s strategy is to reach into every community in Virginia and catch the predators who are hiding in plain sight,” said Grier Weeks, Executive Director of the National Association to Protect Children. “Law enforcement now knows how to locate thousands of these criminals in Virginia alone, and that means they can rescue thousands of child victims.”

REGIONAL BREAKOUT

Data from the central ICAC database in the Wyoming regarding Virginians trafficking in child pornography. The following is the top 30 regions of child pornography on hard drives distributed through these peer-to-peer networks since 2005.

Virginia Beach	1956
Norfolk	1367
Richmond	1256
Herndon	1058
Newport News	887
Chesapeake	815
Hampton	674
Alexandria	657
Fairfax	507
Arlington	503
Woodbridge	467
Roanoke	406
Falls Church	386
Reston	373
Fredericksburg	360
Manassas	353
Portsmouth	336
Ashburn	319
Springfield	246
Charlottesville	243
Williamsburg	229
Yorktown	226
Midlothian	222
Centreville	203
Vienna	162
Stafford	156
Annandale	152
Harrisonburg	147
Lynchburg	139
Winchester	136
Mc Lean	129
Waynesboro	124
Blacksburg	121
Warrenton	105

_{improved coordination, expanded pre-natal care, and strengthened faith-based outreach approved by Health Committee today}

RICHMOND – House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran proposed the “Infant Mortality Prevention Act” today before the Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee of the House of Delegates. The Act is designed to reduce Virginia’s higher-than-average infant mortality rate by expanding access to pre-natal care, improving coordination of home visitation programs and strengthening faith-based outreach to ensure a safe first year of life. The Act also targets state focus on critically needed high-risk areas and launches a new public information campaign to reduce the instance of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Delegate Dwight C. Jones (D-Richmond), Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, serves as chief co-patron of the initiative and the proposal is supported by the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, Voices for Virginia’s Children, and March of Dimes. The legislation was approved by the HWI Committee and referred to the Appropriations Committee.

“Virginia stands out as a model state in many ways but we should truly be ashamed of our record on reducing infant mortality. As the father of two young children, I know there is nothing more important than providing families with a safe, secure, and healthy environment,” said Delegate Moran. “Our nation is first in millionaires and first in billionaires, yet we have fallen to 37th in the world in our infant mortality rate. Our parents deserve our support and these children deserve nothing less than a chance at life.”

Virginia’s infant mortality rate is 7.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, the 17th highest and well above the national average. The leading causes of IM are prematurity/low weight birth, Sudden Infant Death, Birth Defects and other of pregnancy.

The Infant Mortality Prevent Act expands pre-natal care to mothers earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level in order to provide the care needed for a safe and healthy first year of life. Studies have shown that the IMR for women who received late or no pre-natal care was 37% higher than the rate for women who received care in the first trimester.

The act also:

• Prohibits the state from charging copayments for needed pre-natal services for state employees
• Designates a high-level coordinator for the state’s home visitation programs that are designed to limit infant mortality. Home visitation is one of the surest ways to ensure Moms have the information for a healthy birth.
• Directs the Office of Faith Based Services to coordinate faith-based organizations to reduce infant mort.
• Requires a new public education campaign to reduce the cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

This measure is fiscally responsible as the costs to the taxpayer of a baby carried to term is approximately $3200 while a premature baby who remains in Neonatal Intensive Care for an average of eleven days, costs from $31,000 to $48,000.

“This is a responsible first step to curb Virginia’s higher-than-average infant mortality rate and focus our resources on those communities most affected,” said Moran. “This initiative is fiscally responsible and morally required and will reduce long-term healthcare costs for the Commonwealth.”

The higher-than-average infant mortality rates are particularly acute in our Eastern Region with a rate of 11.4 deaths per 1,000 live Births. White Virginians have an infant death rate of approximately 5.9 per thousand while African American Virginians have a rate of 14.3 per thousand – nearly three times greater.

“Virginians deserve quick and decisive action on this measure to reduce our all-too-high infant mortality rate,” said Delegate Dwight Jones, Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus. “Our minority communities suffer a three times higher rate of infant death than other communities so we must focus our resources where it is needed the most.”

Top 10: 5 Year Average Infant Mortality Rates per 1000 Live Births (2001-2005)

Portsmouth	15.0
Richmond City	14.9
Roanoke City	13.6
Hopewell	13.0
Fredericksburg	12.4
Danville	12.4
Charlottesville	11.9
Petersburg	11.7
Newport News	11.6
Hampton	11.3

“After some years of improvement, Virginia’s infant mortality rate remains stagnant, which is a great concern to all health care professionals and child advocates. We need to re-double our efforts to identify and reduce risk factors. This bill is definitely a step in the right direction,” said John Morgan of Voices for Virginia’s Children.

“The faith community is eager to work with the Commonwealth and reduce infant mortality,” said Doug Smith of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. “We have been watching a model of collaboration from Tarrant County, Texas that demonstrates how a healthy partnership that educates and empowers families through healthy lifestyles and exercise can reduce infant mortality. Our buildings and our volunteers share the same goal as the state; keeping Virginia healthy.”