| Summary: Megan's Law requires that sex offenders convicted of certain crimes register their whereabouts upon release from prison, and whenever they move. Some version of Megans Law is in force in all fifty states |
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Megans Law requires that sex offenders convicted of certain crimes register their whereabouts upon release from prison, and whenever they move. Some version of Megan’s Law is in force in all fifty states, and there are now Megans Law websites maintained by many states to allow citizens access to local Megan’s Law information online.
Megan’s law was named after Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old New Jersey girl who was brutally raped and murdered by someone who was known to be a child molester, and who had moved across the street from the Kanka’s without their knowledge of his background.
Following the tragedy, many people, including Megan’s grieving parents, lobbied to have a law passed which mandated that the current address and other information about convicted sex offenders must be made available to the public. The reasoning was that if the Kanka’s had been aware that their neighbor across the street was a convicted child molester, they might have been able to save Megan from her terrible fate.
In fact, under the law at that time, the police department, even knowing about the child molester’s history, was legally unable to disclose that information to those who lived in his neighborhood. Megan’s Law has changed that paradigm.
The Federal aspect of these laws requires that anyone convicted of child molestation (and certain other sex crimes) register as a sex offender with the local law enforcement agency of any place to which they move. Before they are released from custody they are advised and notified in writing of their obligation to register their whereabouts. That information is also forward to the U.S. Department of Justice, where it is added to a database. The Megan’s Law database is one of the resources available online through various state Megan’s Law portals.
There are now hundreds of thousands of convicted sex offenders registered under Megan’s Law; California has more than 63,000 alone.
Megan’s Law has survived legal challenges over invasion of privacy, based on the fact that the government has an over-riding interest in keeping children safe from known sex offenders.
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