FAC Sends Letter to Judge Regarding Dennis Hastert Sentencing

Below is the text of a letter from FAC to Dennis Hastert’s sentencing judge.

April 11, 2016

Honorable Thomas M. Durkin

US District Court Judge

Northern District of Illinois

Eastern Division

Room 1446

219 South Dearborn Street

Chicago, IL 60604

RE:       US v. JOHN DENNIS HASTERT

            CASE NO. 15 CR 315

Dear Judge Durkin:

I am President of the Florida Action Committee, Inc., a non-profit organization whose goal is to prevent sexual abuse through advocacy and education programs. We are advocates for changes to the sex offender registry and intelligent management policies for this population, based on evidence-based and empirically proven studies.

I am writing this letter to advise the court of additional grievous wrongs committed by Mr. Hastert, in the hope that the Court will take our position into advisement.

In reading the Defendant’s sentencing memorandum and Government’s position on the appropriate punishment for Mr. Hastert, our organization was deeply offended. Mr. Hastert is facing, at most, six months in prison according to the advisory range of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The Florida Action Committee has members who have or are serving decades in prison for consensual teenage relationships and acts that involved no direct victim contact!

Mr. Hastert, as the court is aware, sexually abused at least five children while he was a wrestling coach. Using his position of authority and opportunity to prey on children, he committed heinous acts and then bribed his victims to remain silent.

Mr. Hastert committed other heinous acts which were not part of the Government’s position and which the Court might not even have considered prior to this letter.

Knowing that he himself was a sexual predator, Dennis Hastert falsely promoted himself as a defender for child welfare.

In 2006 Hastert spearheaded the Adam Walsh Act (AWA), which was a bill that toughened punishments for sex offenders. At that time, he was quoted as saying, “We’ve all seen the disturbing headlines about sex offenders and crimes against children. These crimes cannot persist. Protecting our children from Internet predators and child exploitation enterprises are just as high a priority as securing our border from terrorists”

In fact, during his 20-year tenure in congress, Hastert pushed punitive legislation to punish “sex offenders” not only through the passage of the AWA, but the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Amendments of 1996 and the Child Abuse Prevention Enforcement Act of 2000. Using his position of authority and opportunity, he preyed on an unpopular segment of the population (“sex offenders”) to help conceal his own wrongdoing.

Today there are over eight hundred thousand individuals in the United States on sex offender registries. Some, like Mr. Hastert, committed heinous crimes against multiple victims, but others committed benign, non-violent, one-time offenses, yet are being punished for life as a consequence of the harshly punitive laws that Mr. Hastert passed.

As a consequence, hundreds of thousands of individuals and their millions of family members and friends have to live with the draconian punishments he fostered.  These individuals are also the victims of Mr. Hastert’s actions.

Although the statute of limitations may have expired for his worst crimes and although the sentencing guidelines dictate a range of 0 to 6 months, the Guidelines also require that “relevant conduct” be considered in every Federal Case, including uncharged conduct.

As you consider the appropriate sentence for Mr. Hastert, I sincerely hope that you will keep in mind the over 800,000 other victims of Mr. Hastert’s, who are serving decades, if not a lifetime under ineffective and unduly harsh laws that were passed as a result of his hypocritical and self-serving actions.

Sincerely,

Gail Colletta, President