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Megan's Law Essay

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Megan's Law is a controversial law that requires sex offenders to register with law enforcement authorities upon their release from prison. The law was enacted in response to the sexual assault and murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka by a neighbor who had twice been convicted of similar sex offenses and was on parole. The law requires offenders to provide their name, photograph, physical description, list of offenses, current address, place of employment or school, and automobile license plate number.In terms of the ideal characteristics of criminal law, Megan's Law can be seen as a positive step towards protecting public safety. The law aims to prevent future crimes by providing the public with information about convicted sex offenders in their …show more content…

They must provide their name, recent photograph, physical description, list of offenses for which they were convicted, current address, place of employment or school, and automobile license plate number. However, the extent of community notification varies across states. Some states require active community notification, such as notifying schools and day-care centers, while others make the information available only to the public. The national registry of sex offenders, established under the Pam Lyncher Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act, allows state officials to determine whether a job applicant at a day-care center or other sensitive positions is a registered sex offender in any of the participating …show more content…

Additionally, California has a law that allows citizens access to a CD-ROM with detailed information on sex offenders living in the state. The Pam Lyncher Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1996, called for a national registry of sex offenders, which allows state officials to submit queries and determine whether a job applicant at a day-care center is a registered sex offender in any of the participating states.Overall, communities have the right to be informed about the presence of sex offenders and take measures to protect themselves, such as avoiding contact with the offender or limiting their access to certain areas. However, it's worth noting that some states have more stringent laws than others when it comes to community notification and that the effectiveness of such laws in reducing the risk of recidivism among sex offenders remains a topic of

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The United States Supreme Court in the Packingham v. North Carolina first amendment case has ruled in favor of Lester Gerard Packingham. The state from now on may not bar social media access to registered sex offenders. The case’s build up dates back to 2002 when 21 year old college student Lester G. Packingham had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl. For involvement with a minor he received a 10-12 month sentence, but having never met problems with the law, the judge required him to go on a 24 month probation and register as a sex offender. Five years had passed and in 2008 North Carolina forbid any person on the sex offender list to use any type of social media.

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History has a tendency to be biased. Always told from the apparent side of the ‘good’. From the British being the bad guys in the Revolutionary War, to the idea, that terrorism raised because of the War in Iraq, the media, as well as other sources, tends to be biased towards the side that we, as humans, are more likely to be able to relate with. However, the untold side of the story is always the one with more facts, and it is the one that is truly the key to figure out motive. The book, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, written by James Swanson is one, such text that reports how the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, created his plan and the manhunt that followed.

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Megan’s Law How Megan's law came to be in 1994. Megan's law was made because of 7yr old Megan Nincole Kanaka. Megan was kidnapped by her neighbor, Jesse Timmendquas. She was then sexually assaulted and murdered. They found Megan's body the next day, July 30, 1994.

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The same year Hendricks was facing release Kansas enacted legislation to address the civil commitment of individuals known to be sexual predators. The result was the Sexually Violent Predator Act, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-29a01 et seq. (1994), known as K.S.A. 59-2901 et seq.

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Policy Analysis: Megan’s Law Sexual violence, particularly against children, is a significant issue all around the world. In the early 1990’s in the United States, there were multiple well-publicized cases of sexual violence against children. From kidnappings, to rapes, and everything in between, violence was being committed against children and something needed to be done about it. In 1996, Megan’s Law was passed in response to the sexual assault and death of Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old from New Jersey (Corrigan, 2006).

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Megan's Law then added the requirement that the public be notified when a sex offender moves into the area (Levenson, 2007). While this law has support from many communities, it also has been under scrutiny by those questioning its constitutionality. The question is, does this law really protect communities or does it simply punish sex offenders after they are released?

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It is known that some individuals listed do have repeat offenses, but some offenders are reformed and live successful lives. One minor incident could haunt someone for years and impact his or her career, relationships, and community involvement. A person who wants to live a better life and be a better person may have trouble escaping the label of a sex offender (The Law Office of George Gedulin, 2017). Another major criticism is that it affects the family members of those on Megan’s Law. It might degrade the whole family's reputation, because one member is listed.

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1079 Words | 5 Pages

To have a law passed under the name of a victim is world-wide changing, as the terrible acts could be restored into the criminal justice system today. Although, the circumstance of any law passed by legislation is too hard to understand why would anyone want to commit such a horrific crime, the answers, we may never know. As many Americans may remember it, the world stopped on July 15, 2008 as people heard across the nation on the news, radio, and perhaps social media. A two-year old little girl from Orlando Florida was missing, and her name was Caylee Marie Anthony. Casey Marie Anthony gave birth to Caylee on August 9, 2005 in Orlando Florida.

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A sex offenders register for identification and keeps evidence and tracks anything down. Any one valuable will need to be protected by sex

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Megan’s Law was enacted under the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act of 1994, which required sex offenders to register their offender status with law enforcement agencies (Tewksbury, 2005). Both laws converged to create what is now referred to as “Megan’s Laws” which operates on a state level and requires both the registration of sex offenders and notification to the public. The states themselves decide what information will be posted for the public to see, but typically includes their full name, date of birth, nature of offense, and current photograph of the offender. The law enforcement agency that is in the jurisdiction of where the offender resides is responsible for the distribution of the information to the public. Some agencies prefer to use the old-fashioned method and distribute flyers, pamphlets, or newspapers, while others may take a more technological approach and make Facebook posts as means to notify the public.

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Furthermore, this leaves room for states to implement their own practices and ways to address status offenders. It has also been argued that the Act “fractured the juvenile justice system so that officials in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare handled white, middle-income youth” (Hinton, 2015, p. 816). Programs which labeled white youths as “children in trouble” marked minority youths as “chronic offenders” who were deemed a danger to society, and tried as an adult. The exceptions and revisions that have been made to the Act make it possible for repeat status offenders to be detained in secure

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Argument For my argument project I was asked to do a paper about a problem or situation in my community. I was looking for some ideas and came a across and article about a sex offender moving to our community. I thought that would be an amazing topic to write about.

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As a parent, I want to be very aware of the sexual offenders who may be near my children. The sexual registry list is a good tool that

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“Teenager’s Jailing Brings a Call to Fix Sex Offender Registries,” is an article written by Julie Bosman, and published by the New York Times Newspaper. The article is written about a 19-year-old named Zachery Anderson who is listed on a sex offender registry for life. The cause of this was talking to an under aged female through a dating app called “Hot or Not.” Although, Zachary Anderson did not know that the girl who had lied about her being 17, was actually 14, he later plead guilty to what had happened. Reading this newspaper article had me thinking about all sorts of things, whether it was about the fact that Zachary had sex with a female who was under the age of consent in Michigan or the fact that he was put on the sex offender registry.

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Dropping down to approximately 3.5%, they are now classified as the class of offenders that are least likely to re-offend in the same criminal activity. Pulling in these large changes in the statistics, it would be fair to assume that the program is working on the statistical front. A further example of why this law is effective is through a study done by the Washington State Institute of Public Policy. This showed that the recidivism rates of registered sex offenders had decreased by 70% comparing it to pre-notification. Being an extremely significant and bold number, it is important to note that the author concluded that this may not be directly related to notification, as other factors may have contributed.

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