PRINTER'S NO. 1349
No. 209 Session of 2007
INTRODUCED BY GABIG, MAJOR, GEIST, WALKO, YOUNGBLOOD, GIBBONS,
VULAKOVICH, GILLESPIE, CONKLIN, SAINATO, GEORGE, MANTZ,
DONATUCCI, CREIGHTON, GALLOWAY, CAUSER, FABRIZIO, HERSHEY,
DiGIROLAMO, RAPP, SIPTROTH, RUBLEY, JAMES, MOYER, CLYMER,
KULA, MAHONEY, HESS, QUINN, J. EVANS, HICKERNELL, THOMAS,
MUSTIO, SONNEY, READSHAW, FLECK, PALLONE, HENNESSEY, RAMALEY,
MANN, SWANGER, CAPPELLI, MILLARD, DALEY, DePASQUALE, ROSS,
REICHLEY, VEREB, GOODMAN, STERN, BAKER, CALTAGIRONE,
R. STEVENSON, BOBACK, EVERETT, PAYNE, MURT, BROOKS, KILLION,
BOYD, SOLOBAY, SCAVELLO, COX, GINGRICH, K. SMITH AND KORTZ,
APRIL 18, 2007
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
APRIL 18, 2007
A RESOLUTION
1 Designating the month of May 2007 as "Online Child Predator
2 Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.
3 WHEREAS, The growth of the Internet as an informational
4 resource and means of communication has increased and continues
5 to increase astronomically; and
6 WHEREAS, The Internet provides a relatively anonymous means
7 to communicate with others; and
8 WHEREAS, The relatively anonymous communication which the
9 Internet affords is increasingly used by sexual predators to
10 target Pennsylvania's innocent children for victimization; and
11 WHEREAS, The volume of sexual predators using the Internet to
12 seek out child victims, and the rate by which this volume
13 appears to be increasing, is alarming in equal measure to the
1 extent of the effort exerted by these predators to attempt to
2 commit brutal acts of sexual violence; and
3 WHEREAS, The sexual victimization of our children is a
4 profound trauma which robs them of innocence and afflicts them
5 with a lifelong burden of pain and suffering; and
6 WHEREAS, The sexual predation targeted at Pennsylvania's
7 children represents an assault not on individual children, but
8 on entire families and the communities in which they live; and
9 WHEREAS, Sexual predators targeting children over the
10 Internet may be combated through efforts to increase the
11 awareness of parents and children and through sustained measures
12 by law enforcement to apprehend these predators before they
13 succeed in harming a child; therefore be it
14 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate the
15 month of May 2007 as "Online Child Predator Awareness Month" in
16 Pennsylvania, recognizing that Internet use by sexual predators
17 to contact child victims is a grave threat to children and
18 communities across this Commonwealth; and be it further
19 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives recognize that
20 this threat must be actively met with awareness in
21 Pennsylvania's communities and vigilance in law enforcement; and
22 be it further
23 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives encourage all
24 citizens to take the necessary steps to become familiar with the
25 threat of online child sexual predators and methods by which
26 this Commonwealth's children may be defended.
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