Megan's Law

Legislation

By: U.S. Congress

Date: May 17, 1996.

Source: "Megan's Law." Title 42 U.S. Code 14071(d), May 17, 1996.

About the Author: Congress is the legislative branch of the national government of the United States. It is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

INTRODUCTION

On July 29, 1994, seven year old Megan Kanka was playing near her home in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. A neighbor who lived directly across the street, Jesse Timmendequas, lured her to his home by promising to show Megan his puppy. Timmendequas was a convicted sex offender, with convictions in 1979 and 1981 for aggravated sexual assault and attempted sexual conduct on two children ages seven and five. Megan's parents, Richard and Maureen Kanka, were unaware of Timmendequas' history.

According to Timmendequas' confession to police, he raped Megan, then covered her head with plastic bags and strangled her, to prevent her from telling her parents or authorities. He then dumped her body in the weeds at a nearby park. Megan's parents had alerted police to her disappearance after they went around the neighborhood, canvassing neighbors. Timmendequas spoke to them, telling the Kankas he had seen Megan earlier, playing outside. When police canvassed the neighborhood shortly after, Timmendequas appeared to be nervous in conversations with the officers. A police background check revealed his criminal record, along with the sex offender status of his two roommates, both convicted felons. Twenty-four hours after the police searches began, Timmendequas confessed to her murder and led authorities to Megan's body.

Richard and Maureen Kanka, in the aftermath of Megan's murder, began to advocate for sex offender registration laws that allowed the public to know where a sex offender lived and/or worked. The Kankas repeatedly stated in newspaper interviews that had they known about Timmendequas' convictions against children, and the sex offender status of his roommates, they would have been better able to assess risk in their neighborhood and protect their daughter.

Sex offender registry laws were not new; their genesis can be traced back to California in the 1940s. At the time of Megan's murder, Oregon had just passed a sex offender registry law. The Kankas petitioned the New Jersey legislature to pass a law similar to that in Oregon; in late 1994, Megan's Law legislation passed both houses of the New Jersey legislature and became law just eighty days after Megan's murder.

President William Clinton signed a federal version of Megan's Law in 1996. The federal Megan's Law was an amendment of the 1994 Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, which had already mandated the creation of state sex offender registries. Under Megan's Law, the public now had the right to know about sex offenders, their names, addresses, and crimes committed. States that did not comply with the law risked losing federal funds for law enforcement.

PRIMARY SOURCE

An Act

To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to require the release of relevant information to protect the public from sexually violent offenders. «NOTE: May 17, 1996—[H.R. 2137]»

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, «NOTE: Megan's Law.»

SECTION 1. «NOTE: 42 USC 13701 note.» SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as "Megan's Law".

SEC. 2. RELEASE OF INFORMATION AND CLARIFICATION OF PUBLIC NATURE OF INFORMATION.

Section 170101(d) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14071(d)) is amended to read as follows:

(d) Release of Information.—

1. The information collected under a State registration program may be disclosed for any purpose permitted under the laws of the State.
2. (2) The designated State law enforcement agency and any local law enforcement agency authorized by the State agency shall release relevant information that is necessary to protect the public concerning a specific person required to register under this section, except that the identity of a victim of an offense that requires registration under this section shall not be released.

Approved May 17, 1996.

SIGNIFICANCE

The Kankas promoted Megan's Law as a protective measure to promote public awareness of sex offenders in neighborhoods; current psychological research indicates that those who commit sex offenses against children have the highest recidivism rates among criminal populations.

Opponents of sex offender registry laws argue that these laws punish convicted offenders who served their sentence. By forcing the convicted sex offender to publicly announce his or her crime through registration, the offender faces a second sentence of sorts. In addition, a small percentage of sex offenders are charged with statutory rape, in cases where an eighteen year old perpetrator has sexual relations with a fif-teen year old. In some of these cases, the fifteen year old gave verbal consent, but legally is under the age of consent, and rape charges applied. In addition, nonviolent sex offenses, such as public indecency or lewd acts, require the convicted criminal to register as a sex offender; critics of this policy point to the destructive impact such registration has on the career, housing, and community involvement of such non-violent offenders.

In two 2003 United States Supreme Court decisions, Smith v. Doe, 01-729 and Connecticut Dept. of Public Safety v. Doe, 01-1231, the court determined that the laws do not violate the rights of offenders and do not constitute punishment after having served one's sentence. The laws are designed to regulate and to disseminate information of vital public important, the court said.

Police departments and states turned to the Internet as a vehicle for providing information about sex offender registries. The United States Department of Justice hosts the National Sex Offender Public Registry, in which users conduct searches by state and zip code. Each state sets different terms for the release of public information; some states provide public information on all sex offenders while others maintain registries for all, but release information to the public only for those offenders classified as likely to offend again.

On May 30, 1997, Jesse Timmendequas was convicted on counts of capital murder, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to death. He remained on New Jersey's death row as of 2006.

Registries in the United States track more than 500,000 sex offenders nationwide.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

J. Craissati. Managing High Risk Sex Offenders in the Community; A Psychological Approach. Brunner-Routledge2000.

Periodicals

Brooks, Alexander D. "Megan's Law: Constitutionality and Policy." Criminal justice Ethics vol. 15, 1996.

Web sites

Bureau of Justice Assistance. "Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children And Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act." ?http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/what/02ajwactcontents.html? (accessed March 27, 2006).

National Sex Offender Public Registry. ?http://www.nsopr.gov/? (accessed March 27, 2006).