Megan's Law - Protection More Important than Privacy Essay

Megan’s Law and it purpose are good, but however the laws leaves some loophole for a sex offender to get around some of them. In the state of Tennessee a sex offender are allowed to have access to an electronic mail address or internet must report within 3 day. An offender has 48 hours prior to their release to notify the TBI in person unless the facility they are house at is the register Violent offender must be on the registry for life, but those that are classify as sexual offenders my apply to have their name remove from the registry ten years after their expiration of their sentence (Klass Kids Foundation, 2016). Political elected official demonize sex offender and presenting to the public that they have an interests in protecting children.

Child molestation and sexual assault is an ever growing problem in the United States today, but an even bigger problem is that these pedophiles are being released after only serving as little as one quarter of their sentence. In California alone (at the time the bill was first passed), there was an estimated 680 individuals on parole for molestation and other sexual assaults including sodomy by force with a victim under the age of thirteen as well as child molestation with foreign objects.

Jesse was a convicted child molester who lived with two other registered sex offenders and lived near the young girl and her family at the time. After the rape and death of young Megan, a law was passed, known as “Megan’s Law” (Meloy). This law provides the general public with the location and images of registered sex offenders so people may protect themselves and their children (Harris). The problem with the law is that it states, “so people may protect themselves and their children”. If the law feels that families should have to protect themselves and their children from these types of “people”, why do they let them out of jail in the first place? (See Fig.

Megan law was signed after very unfortunate events that happened on July 29 1994 in Hamilton Township NJ around 6:30 pm Megan went for a bike ride around her neighbor but never came back.. Megan body was found on a toy box on a nearby park on the very next day. Police was able to found her body because her murdered confessed to them. Megan’s murdered was a quiet neighbor that rarely spoke to anybody on the neighborhood and that carried a pedophile history. Megan loved dogs so when he saw her on her bike he invited her to her house and promised her to show her a puppy and that’s when he beat, raped and strangled her. After the murder Megan’s family received more terrible news; they were told about Timmendequas (Megan’s Murdered) history

There have been many federal acts passed in correspondence with sex offenses that illicit feat with the public. There are many different types of ways in which Levenson & colleagues’ (2007) describes the perceptions that the public has based on certain factors. For instance, in relation to the perception about the sex offender notification system, a survey produced results of around 80 percent in favor of these registries, because these individuals felt safer in their communities knowing who was in their neighborhood. Further, due to this fear that resonated in the early 1990’s communities do have tools such as residential restrictions, civil commitment, notification procedures, etc. that aid in the protection. However, there are myths associated with sex offenders, for example legislation often states that the reasoning for new laws and regulations is due to the high recidivism rates. However, sex offenders have significantly lower recidivism rates than believed. Also, there are countless people who do not believe that sex offenders can be assisted with techniques from a psychological standpoint. Most people think that these offenders cannot be treated, however, there is research being conducted that is promising. Finally, there is a common misconception that sex offenders kill their victims, especially children more often than other killers, however this is not true.

To this day, the extent to which sex offenders should be punished for their crime continues to cause controversy. The debate concerning the severity of punishment for these offenders hasn’t come to a resolution. Regulations called Scarlet Letter Laws have been implemented to protect people from sex offenders, yet these laws have caused problems regarding their morality. While these laws provide safety from dangerous convicts, they also violate certain civil rights. Scarlet Letter Laws are valid in many sexual assault cases, but can be unjust and should be modified in others.

Megan’s Law was named after a seven year old girl from New Jersey Megan Nicole Kanka. On July 29, 1994 she was invited by a neighbor to see his puppy. He was a twice convicted pedophile; he sexually assaulted and murdered her. Due to the brutality of the crime that was done to Megan it mandate registration of sex offenders and corresponding community notification.

Megan Kanka and several other children have been the reason for the safety of children around this country. I know that you’re wondering in what way this person contributed to the safety of other children. Well Megan Kanko was a 7 years old child who was next door from a previously charged pedophile in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. The difference between then and now is that in the past there were no laws stating that pedophiles had to inform those who lived near them that they were there, of their past convictions, or even some type of registration available. This was the case of Megan Kanka’s offender, Jesse Timmendequas. His record consisted of attempted aggravated sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl in Piscataway, New Jersey, in 1979. He had pleaded guilty to the charges for attempted aggravated sexual assault. He was given a suspended sentence, but he failed to go to counseling, so he was forced to spend nine months at the Middlesex Adult Correctional Center. In 1981, he again pleaded guilty in regards to the sexual assault of a seven-year-old girl and was imprisoned, at Avenel, for six years. He’s an example of a recidivist who was controlled and

In the year of 1994, the New Jersey Legislature passed a law known as Megan’s Law. The law was named after Megan Kanka, a seven year old girl who was raped and killed in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, by a known child molester who had moved across the street from the family. Megan’s Law, in short, created a registration and notification procedure to alert law enforcement, schools, community organizations and neighbors to the presence of a sex offender who authorities believe may pose a risk to the community (Morris County Office of the Prosecutor, 2015, p. 1). States must provide relevant information about these sex offenders to their communities in order to enhance public safety

Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their

In 1787, the constitution was born. The constitution has been America’s guideline to the American way of life. Our US constitution has many points in it to protect America and it’s people from an overpowered government, our economy, and ourselves. The only thing the constitution doesn’t directly give us, is our right to privacy, and our right to privacy has been a big concern lately courtesy of the National Security Agency (NSA).(#7) Although our constitution doesn’t necessarily cover the privacy topic, it does suggest that privacy is a given right. Some people say that the right to privacy was so obvious, that our founding fathers didn’t even feel the need to make a point about it.(#9) It also didn’t help

The number of registered sex offenders have increasingly grew over the years. Every day you see a man or women added to the registry for crimes against women and mostly children. The sex offender registries biggest and main focus is to keep the people in the community in each city and state informed and protected. ”Sex offenders and sex crimes provoke a great deal of anxiety in our society.” Baker, J, Brannon, Y, N., Fortney. , Levenson, J.S. (“Public Perceptions about Sex Offenders and Community Protection”). The sex offender registry is based solely on protecting the public from being a victim

Megan’s Law created a registration and notification procedure to alert law enforcement, schools, community organizations and neighbors to the presence of a sex offender who authorities believe may pose a risk to the community ( Verniero 1) .When sex crime offenders are released from prison according to this new law, they must register themselves with the police. If they are thought to be dangerous and will possibly strike again, they must also register with the

Stories of sex offenders have been increasingly a focus of attention by the criminal justice system over the past years. By legal definition, a sex offender “is a person who is convicted of a sexual offense (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition),” an act which is prohibited by the jurisdiction. What constitutes as a sex offense or normal/abnormal sexual behavior varies over time and place, meaning that it also varies by legal jurisdiction and culture. In the United States of America, for example, a person can be convicted of wide range of sexual behavior that includes prostitution, incest, sex with a minor, rape, and other sex offenses (Sex Offender Law & Legal Definition). As the nature of sex crimes have long held the

The political claim that sex offender laws for minors needs to be reexamined. Sexting should not be considered a felony charge for minors under the age of 17 years because Teens don’t understand the severe long-term effects of their actions ranging from embrassement to imprisonment or worse, death. They do not realize once the send button is hit their privacy is