NCJ Number
82203
Date Published
1980
Length
148 pages
Annotation
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Crime of the House Committee on the Judiciary speaks to the provisions of H.R. 1290, a bill designed to counter parents' kidnapping of their children in violation of custody and visitation orders.
Abstract
H.R. 1290 requires States to enforce and not to modify custody and visitation orders of other States consistent with a set of criteria from the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act. This is intended to remove the motivation to kidnap a child to shop for a favorable custody determination in a State other than where the child and custodial parent reside. The bill also authorizes the use of the Parent Locator Service in the Department of Health and Human Services to locate parents who abduct their children in violation of the custody or visitation rights of the other parent. This is designed to provide an effective search mechanism without FBI intervention. The bill also sets criminal penalties for child snatching by creating a section in the United States Code which makes it a crime to conceal a child for more than 7 days in violation of a parent's right of custody or visitation or to restrain a child without good cause for more than 30 days. The former offense is punishable as a Class B misdemeanor (not more than 6 months and not more than $10,000 or both), and the latter offense is punishable as a Class C misdemeanor (not more than 30 days, not more than $10,000, or both). While the witnesses testifying before the subcommittee generally favored the thrust of the bill, some felt the delay of 7 or 30 days would hamper law enforcement efforts to locate a child.