Erin's Law Analysis

These bills are serving the purpose of expanding the definition of child abuse, and also require that there be increase in the reporting of any suspected abuse. The child abuse laws are laws providing rules that are meant to hold any individuals that brings harm to a child accountable of the actions against said child. In the bills passed, child abuse is not only limited to physical harm to the child, but now include emotional harm, sexual exploitation and actions or failure to take actions that could lead to the child facing risk and danger (Hg.org, 2017). With such bills in place, potential predators who are still out there will be scared and they shall not dream of trying to abuse any

In 1996, Megan’s Law was created to help police during their investigation of sex crimes and to let the public know about the identities and location of the offender. Along with the Adam Walsh Child Protection and the Safety Act of 2006, sex offenders must fill a list of information about themselves in a database; this includes their names, finger prints, a recent photo, etc. this database has three risk tiers in order to know how dangerous the offender is, with tier one is the lowest risk and tier three being the highest. With the community being a big part in dealing with sex offenders, notification statutes were made for people who want information about them. With community notification laws in place, parents must take extra precaution

I think some of these laws reflects no mercy on either part of the victim or the accuser. Some of

(2013, Dec 15). Child protection bills await corbett's signature ** measures were written in response to the 2011 arrest of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on child sex-abuse charges. Morning Call Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1468540785?accountid=3783

Notification: Public Attention, Political Emphasis, and Fear”, by Richard G. Wright, makes the following statement that goes along with issue involving the allocation of funds, “For the millions of direct and indirect expenditures spent on compliance and implementation with registration and notification laws, there is very little funding spent on sexual assault prevention, victim support, and offender treatment” (Wright 102). It is extremely important to put money towards rehabilitation, and the support of the victims of sexual assault, not just the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

Until the 1998 amendments, incidents were only reported when a student was arrested for such a violation. The regulations now require institutions to report violations in situations where there was either an arrest or a disciplinary referral. Second, the Clery Act authorizes institutions to implement policies that allow parental notification when the student is under twenty-one (Harshman, Puro, Wolff 15).” When a student is found guilty of sexual assault the punishment is more law based rather than their education. ” Under the Clery Act, the school becomes allied with law enforcement, where the emphasis is on the punishment of offenses rather than the student’s education (Harshman, Puro, Wolff 16).” The main point of the Clery Act is that it is your responsibility to report something you see that is not right. By doing this you could help save someone’s life. These campaigns haven’t been the end solution to this ongoing problem but it has helped over the years.

“Megan's Law is a term that describes laws designed to provide information and notification to communities when a potentially dangerous sex offender moves into the neighborhood.” Offenders register with authorities, then in an online registry. They just provide their name, address, photo and conviction information (Markos 1). This Law is a controversial topic. It is about a seven year old girl named Megan Kanka who was sexually abused and murdered by her neighbor across the street (Fodor 1).In spite of critics who complain that it invades the privacy of convicted and released sex offenders, Megan's Law is vital in order to provide children's safety.

          In the summer of 1994 in Hamilton, New Jersey, a small girl by the name of Megan Kanka was raped and murdered by a convicted pedophile, Jesse Timmendequas. The shocking crime rocked not only the small town, but the entire country. A desperate mother told reporters “Please, please help us find our daughter, she’s a wonderful girl ... she’s only seven. Let her come back.” (www.crimelibrary.com) No mother should ever have to beg for her daughter’s life. People thought that everyone had a right to know if a child molester was living in their midst. Dick Zimmer, then a state senator in New Jersey, and later a one-term congressman,

At 10:45, one Thursday morning, the gunshots erupted through the town of Chattanooga. Gunshots exploded from the inside of a car with Mohammed directed at the U.S army recruiting center. A clerk, Fred Wright, heard the pops from a nearby auto parts store, then saw the staff fleeing to the brush (Truesdell 48). Members of the staff cried out, "Call 911, someone is shooting at us!"(Truesdell 48). The shooter disappeared from the scene, and he was found ten miles away aiming and firing at the Navy Operational Support Center and the Marine Corps Reserve Center (Truesdell 48). Abdulazeez was more than prepared when he crashed his car into a gate and, wearing a body armor vest, advanced with his weapons, and on foot he advanced toward Marines who were conducting an inventory of equipment (Truesdell 48). Four bodies collapsed to the ground. The four men courageously died before Abdulazeez was killed by a police sniper; later, a Navy man died due to his injuries (Truesdell 48). Unquestionably, this was a tragedy that should not have happened. It left many with the question of why.

The state of Texas penal code and forms of punishment are more than fine the way that it is, because as previously mentioned the other checks and balances would come into play and quickly over turn any punishment or law that would be deemed excessive or unconstitutional or at the very least put Texas on a defense from constant legal challenges in court (Reynolds, 1996). However this does not necessarily mean that current punishments that Texas employs can not be tweaked or adjusted. An example of how punishments in Texas can be better adjusted to combat ineffectiveness or inefficiency is to concentrate at the sources of the problem, basically the: “how the problem first develop in the first place” such as youthful offenders were prevention

An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse exist in America today (Darness2Light, 2009a ). This figure continues to grow daily as perpetrators of this crime continue in this destructive path. The definition of child sexual abuse is the force, coercion, or cajoling of children into sexual activities by a dominant adult or adolescent. Sexual abuse of children includes touching (physical) sexually including: fondling; penetration (vaginal or anal using fingers, foreign objects or offenders organs; oral sex, or non-physical contact including: sexual comments; indecent exposures; masturbating in a child’s presence; child prostitution or child pornography (Child Welfare, 2009a).

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act Public Law 109-248 of the 109th Congress is defined as to protect children from sexual exploitation and violent crime, to prevent child abuse and child pornography, to promote internet safety and to honor the memory of Adam Walsh and other child crime victims. On July 27, 2006 President George W. Bush signed the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety act, this act currently has seven titles. The first one which is titled Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act or SORNA (Public law 109-248, title 1) which is an act which is stated as such “in order to protect the public from sex offenders and offenders against children…” Congress in this Act established a comprehensive national system for the registration of such offenders. There is currently a three tier system which categorizes sex offenders and their charges. Tier one which is the lowest tier or the minor offense compared to the other two is described as “required to register for a period of fifteen years” (Public Law 109-248, Title 1). Tier two is slightly more serious from that of tier two and is punishable by imprisonment for

According to Gardner and Anderson (2016), gruesome photographs are “Photographs that are shocking and repulsive” (p. 454). Such awful photographs are allowed to be used as evidence only if the pictures are related to the crime in question (Gardner & Anderson, 2016). The judge has a say in whether or not graphic photographs are needed in the trial, and if so, can determine how many will be needed (Gardner & Anderson, 2016). Sometimes photographs that display the victim are not needed to support a party’s case (Gardner & Anderson, 2016). If too many gruesome pictures are displayed for the jury to view, it can sway the jury’s opinions (Gardner & Anderson, 2016). Pictures of a murder victim can be used as evidence to support a witness’s testimony

Imagine being robbed of your innocence in a matter of seconds. Imagine not being able to speak out due to threats and fear of seeking help and not being taken seriously. Troubling, is it not? Sexual abuse has always been a problem in society that can affect anyone. Sexual abuse brings along many negative outcomes; however, throughout the years, sexual abuse has been a factor that has always been ignored. Even though sexual abuse has had many attempts to be avoided in various environments, all have failed.

Sexual abuse to children happens across every socioeconomic status, ethnic, cultural, religion and education. Getting treatment for a victim of child sexual abuse is a difficult process because of the lack of trust by the child. When child sexual abuse occurs the victim’s family has a difficult time talking about the abuse, which leads to the family pretending the abuse never happened. Once the family