protect

Protect (often capitalized as PROTECT), or The National Association to Protect Children, is a political organization established in 2002 and dedicated to the protection of children from abuse, exploitation, and neglect. It is a nonprofit, 501(c)(4) membership association with members in every U.S. state and 10 nations. Protect achieved great success in its first three years, winning legislative victories in eight state legislatures. It advocates a nonpartisan "pro-child, anti-crime" agenda, and works closely with both conservative and liberal constituencies and lawmakers.

Protect Agenda and Campaigns

Pro-Child, Anti-Crime Agenda

Protect advocates a "pro-child, anti-crime" agenda, which combines traditionally liberal positions on child protection with traditionally conservative positions on crime. Protect's pro-child agenda includes legal advocacy for child victims and reform and adequate funding of child protective services. Its anti-crime agenda includes stronger criminal sentencing, surveillance and containment of released sex offenders and increased funding for law enforcement.

Protect Campaigns

Protect focuses its work on four principal campaigns:

Circle of Trust Campaign: Since its creation in 2002, Protect has led successful legislative battles to eliminate laws that award preferential treatment to criminals who sexually assault their own children. Protect's Circle of Trust campaign has successfully fought to reform and strengthen laws in North Carolina, Arkansas, Illinois, Virginia, California and New York.

Real Safety Campaign: Protect also advocates intensive community supervision--or "surveillance and containment"--of convicted sex offenders released into communities. The Real Safety campaign educates the public and lawmakers about the dangers of relying upon sex offender registries and residency restriction laws to keep children safe, calling for long-term and lifetime probation and parole.

Accountability Campaign: In 2006, Protect announced it was launching its Accountability Campaign to hold public servants accountable for their performance in combatting crimes against children.

Child Pornography Campaign: In 2006, Protect also launched a national anti-child pornography campaign.

Grassroots Support

In 2005, the punk rock record label, Fat Wreck Chords released a charity record for Protect, entitled Protect: A Benefit for the National Association to Protect Children.

NYDM, New York Death Militia, a worldwide metal music organization, sponsors metal music shows in support of Protect. These shows are happening nationwide across the United States. 2011

Former child actress Alison Arngrim, who was a victim of sexual abuse, lobbies for and speaks for Protect.

See also

• Child abuse
• Child pornography
• Child sexual abuse
• Incest

External links

• Protect

• Child Sexual Abuse and the State by Ruby Andrew, UC Davis Law Review, vol. 39, 2006. Discusses U.S. incest laws in cases where victim is a minor.
• The Incest Loophole by Andrew Vachss, New York Times, Nov. 20, 2005. Sentencing incest perpetrators when victim is a minor.
• Andrew Vachss speaks on the importance of Protect, "Family of Choice webcast," Jan. 14, 2009.