After 12-year-old Polly Klaas was kidnapped from her California home, the family received a barrage of phone calls and letters hoping the young girl. would return home safely. After her body was found in the woods near a lake, police linked the crime to a man with a violent criminal history.

Since Klaas' kidnapping, the California attorney general has called for the state to enact a law that would imprison persistent violent crime offenders.

But state Rep. Ruth Rudy wants to extend the law to the national level by asking the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to consider making kidnapping a federal crime. Rudy sent letters explaining her idea to U.S. senators Harris Wofford and Arlen Specter, and U.S. representatives William Clinger and Bud Shuster.

In her letter, Rudy outlines the importance of protecting children under the age of 18 across the country. Because other violent crimes involving guns and drug dealing are federal offenses, Rudy said kidnapping should be included in this list of "heinous" crimes. Currently, kidnapping is considered a state offense unless it involves more than one state.

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., received the letter, but has not had the chance to review it because he will be touring Asia until Jan. 18. Charity Wilson, counselor to Specter's judiciary committee, said Rudy's letter was a reaction to the Klaas kidnapping case that was received after Congress left for the holidays. The crime bill does not classify kidnapping as a federal offense, she said.

Clinger, R-Pa, also received the letter, but press secretary Betsy Linaberger said making kidnapping a federal offense was not included in the Senate crime bill or in the five bills passed by the House. The House and Senate will debate the crime bill in joint committee sessions within the next six months, she said.