Gang violence, human trafficking, obscenity are top US priorities

Besides its anti-terrorism efforts, gang violence, human trafficking, and obscenity and child pornography are President Bush’s priorities in his second term, according to U.S. Attorney for Districts of Guam and the NMI Leonardo Rapadas.

During the weekly meeting of the Saipan Rotary Club at the Hyatt Regency Saipan yesterday, Rapadas said the top priority of the U.S. government remains today is its efforts to protect its citizens, liberty and their way of life against terrorism. “That top priority has not changed,” he said.

Other priorities are the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, obscenity prosecutions, victims’ rights, human trafficking, immigration reform, and confirmation of judges.

He said the United States Attorney’s Office has made Project Safe Neighborhoods a tremendous success.

“The concept of relying upon local information and law enforcement partners to fight local gun crime is a proven success story. Violent crime has dropped drastically.”

The concept, he said, will be used in combating the prevalence of gang violence. Gangs nationwide have become increasingly deadly threats to neighborhoods, he said, adding, though, that the case is totally different in the CNMI and Guam. He said there had been no records of gang violence reported in both territories.

Though the focus on the two territories varies, the Attorney General has established the department’s Anti-Gang Coordination Committee. This committee will advise the department on resource allocation, policy and budget recommendations. “Our district will have an anti-gang coordinator,” he said. Russ Stoddard, his assistant, will be the coordinator.

On obscenity and child pornography, he said the issue is another priority as it corrupts people’s moral values. “I intend to aggressively combat the purveyors of obscene materials,” Rapadas said.

The First Amendment does not protect child porn, he said, but these materials are often unavoidable. “Thus, enforcement is necessary if we are going to protect young citizens from unwanted exposure to these materials.”

Rapadas said there had been cases that individuals were prosecuted in relation to the obscenity and child pornography. So far, the USAO is reviewing the present statutes and other Federal laws to determine how to further strengthen the prosecution on obscenity.

Lastly, modern-day forms of slavery do not exist only in remote areas, he said. “It happens here on our shores. Victims are smuggled into our country, held in bondage, treated as commodities, and stripped of their humanity.”

Rapadas said victims are subjected to force, fraud or coercion just for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor. “Victims are young children, teenagers, men and women.” He said human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. It is also the second largest behind illegal drug dealing, he said.