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Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Apr 10, 2003
Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003 or PROTECT Act - Amends the Federal criminal code to make the authorized term of supervised release after imprisonment any term of years or life for kidnaping involving a minor and for other specified felony offenses, including sexual abuse.Provides for mandatory life imprisonment of a person convicted of a Federal sex offense against a minor if the person has a prior sex conviction in which a minor was the victim, with exceptions.Directs the Attorney General to establish a pilot program for volunteer organizations to obtain criminal history background checks on their volunteers.Authorizes the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications in the investigation of kidnaping, sex trafficking, and sex offenses against children.Eliminates statutes of limitations for child abduction or the sexual or physical abuse of a child.Bars pretrial release of persons charged with specified offenses against or involving children.Directs the Attorney General to assign a national AMBER Alert Coordinator to facilitate the recovery of missing children.Code Adam Act of 2003 - Requires the designated authority for a public building to establish procedures for locating a child who is missing in the building.Requires a court, in sentencing a defendant convicted of an offense involving a minor victim, to impose a sentence within the Federal sentencing guidelines range, with exceptions.Prohibits making a visual depiction that is a computer-generated image of a minor engaging in specified sexually explicit conduct.
People & committees
Sen. Kennedy, Edward M. [D-MA] · D–MA
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Aug 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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