Missouri lawmaker targets military sex offenders

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Missouri Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler wants to bar some sex offenders from being buried in national cemeteries.

Hartzler says her legislation would prevent military veterans convicted of sexual abuse of children from being buried in Arlington National Cemetery. It also would bar them from other national or state veterans’ cemeteries and prevent them from receiving certain funeral honors.

A spokesman for the U.S. House member says the legislation was filed Friday and has 38 co-sponsors.

Hartzler, a Republican, says she came up with the idea from a town hall forum in Osceola where a constituent described how her father had sexually abused her yet was buried with honor in a national cemetery. Hartzler is calling the bill the “Hallowed Grounds Act.”

More like this story

mvdlhc 1 year, 11 months ago

Dear Congresswoman Hartzler,

We commend you on your recent efforts to control sex offenders in your community. Without a doubt your graveyards will be safer. We believe more can be done. The FBI estimates that only 16% of all sex offenders have been caught and convicted. That means that in your community, 84% of the total actively offending sex offenders still prey on children.

It is imperative for the safety of your community's children and other vulnerable citizens that none of your elected or appointed leaders are part of the majority of sex offenders, those hiding in the shadows, not yet revealed.

We are asking all elected and appointed officials if they would submit to a polygraph test to rule out the possibility that they are part of the 84%.

Since reaching the age of 18 have you ever had sexual contact with a family member?
Since reaching the age of 18 have you ever had sexual contact with a minor?
Since reaching the age of 18 have you ever had sexual electronic communication with a minor?
Have you ever had sexual contact with an animal?
Have you ever created or viewed child pronography?(sp to pass post filter)
Has an underage family member ever saw you nude?
Have you ever continued to have sexual contact after being asked to stop?
Have you ever used a position of power to gain sexual favors?
Have you ever written child sexual erotica?
Have you knowledge of an abused child and neglected to report the abuse?

Optional

Since reaching the age of 18 have you ever had sexual fantasies about a minor?

As you can see, all of our questions, if answered in the positive, indicate a sex crime. We are not out to trip up or embarrass community leaders, so we kept our questions such that only a sex criminal would be indicated. We also used the same questions asked of sex offenders on probation, so it is a fair assessment of who you really are.

The optional question does not indicate a crime, only a thought process. Mental health professionals dealing with sex offenders report that aberrant thought processes usually lead to acting out, and it is important for parents to know if their elected and appointed leaders have deviant thoughts about children. If you have nothing to hide or be ashamed of, then you will answer the optional question.

This survey in no way is compulsory and we will not release the results of your test without a signed release authorization. You can accept the test and prove to your constituents that you are not a child sex predator or you can refuse the test. Not everyone is comfortable answering such personal questions about their past actions.

If testing does uncover suspected sexual crimes against children, we will report those results to your local police department for further investigation, but if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.

Thank you again for your efforts to keep America's children and graveyards safe.