Megan’s Law
Sexual crimes committed by various individuals are quite depressing for the victims and equally highly immoral. In the wake of sexual violence, there are shattered lives, scarred victims, frightened communities, as well as disrupted families (Genord, 2019). Such was the ordeal when Megan, Maureen, and Richard Kanka’s daughter, was kidnapped, raped, and brutally murdered, resulting in what would later become Megan’s law. This paper discusses the history of Megan’s law, why it was created, how Megan was involved in the law, and how the law has helped in child abduction.
The History of Megan’s Law
Long before Megan’s law was passed, Jacob Wetterling Act mandated that each state was supposed to develop and maintain a register of sex offenders, and any other offense which was related to a crime against children. However, this information was not made open to the public but was availed only to law enforcement (Chaudhuri, 2017). It was put to public use strictly when the information about a person became a public safety matter. Maureen and Richard Kanka, both from Hamilton, New Jersey, challenged the effectiveness of the state law as a tool to offer protection to the public after Megan, their daughter, was kidnapped, raped, and murdered. Though the sex offender, Jesse Timmendequas, was sentenced to death, his death penalty was lifted on December 17, 2007, by the legislature of New Jersey (Genord, 2019). Instead, the legislature replaced the offender’s death sentence with a lifetime in prison without parole.
Jessee Timmendequas had been convicted for the second time for the same-sex crime against children. He had lured Megan into his residence, raped and murdered her, then dumped her remains in a nearby park. He later confirmed his crime and directed the police to the place he had dumped Megan’s body. Kanka’s family claimed that if they had known Timmendeguas, their neighbor, was a convicted sex offender, their daughter Megan would still be alive (Genord, 2019). The family fought hard to change the law, trying to make it mandatory that the state should always notify the citizens of the existence of sex offenders among them. In 1994, Paul Kramer, who was by then a Republican politician in New Jersey, sponsored the package of Megan’s law in the General Assembly. Exactly 89 days after the kidnapping, rape, and death of Megan, the bill was passed in New Jersey (Genord, 2019). Hence, Megan’s law was embraced to help inform the public on previously convicted sexual assaulters living among them.
How Megan Got Involved
Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old girl based in New Jersey, was not only raped but also killed by the assaulter after the inhuman act. Her molester, Jesse Timmendequas, was convicted and released on July 29, 1994, after serving his maximum sentence in a correctional facility in New Jersey (Chaudhuri, 2017). After his release, the reaction from the community was very intense, and it extended even beyond the state. An important manifestation of the community outrage involved enacting laws to legalize the need to alert the community of any sex offender working or dwelling among them (Chaudhuri, 2017). The principle was that by using this knowledge, people should always take protective measures against any sex offender in proximity. It was hoped that the citizens would engage with the government or work independently to help secure the neighborhood from social crimes like rape.
Megan’s case awakened her family to fight for the local community to be warned against the existence of sex offenders in the neighborhood. The U.S. Congress adopted Megan’s law in 1996 as an improvement of the Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children’s Act (Genord, 2019). It is obligated that all States should have a notification system and sex offender registry. It also stated that a sex offender who repeated the crime was to serve a life imprisonment sentence.
Why The Law Was Passed
Megan’s law involves both notification and registration; sex offenders are given a specified period to register their address with the local police immediately they are released from prison. By registering, a notification is made to the public, either through the internet or social media, of the offender’s presence in the neighborhood. The main goal is to put the public in the know-how so that they can take the necessary precautions to safeguard the children and any society member from possible attacks (Zgoba et al., 2018). Megan’s law was thus implemented to help in protecting potential victims and also give parents a chance of protecting their children. Though the law seems to be invasive in nature, its intention is not to punish the offender, but rather, to prohibit the use of such information in harassing the offenders after their release from imprisonment.
Further, Megan’s law provides that individuals who have been convicted for sex crimes must inform the local law enforcement of any kind of employment or change in address after release from prison. This notification requirement is executed within a specified period of time, normally at least ten years, or sometimes permanently. However, some states authorize registration for all sex crimes, even the ones which do not involve minors (Zgoba et al., 2018). Failing to register or update information constitutes a crime punishable by law in most jurisdictions.
States vary in the way they enforce Megan’s law; for instance, in New Jersey, perpetrators of sex offenses are kept into one of three tiers, representing a hierarchy of the offender’s probable risk to repeat the crime. The likelihood of the offender to commit the crime again is predicted by the use of a risk assessment instrument, and this determines the offender’s placement in the tier (Zgoba et al., 2018). The first tier represents the lowest risk, tier two moderate risk while tier three is a representation of the highest risk to re-offend.
How the Law Has Helped in Child Abduction
The government developed Megan’s law in an effort to offer protection to the public against registered sex offenders who might be suspected to repeat the crime. These laws indicate the efforts of the government to safeguard against such crimes, especially on offenses directed towards children. Megan’s philosophy is that the community should be protected against convicted individuals who pose a risk of re-offense (Genord, 2019). Some offenders, including the sexual violence perpetrators, are usually at a high risk of committing the crime again. However, with the implementation of the sex offender registry, most of them rarely return to prison for a repeat of sexual assault.
Registered sex criminals are not likely to re-offend, because the risk of repeating the crime decreases over time. Since the offenders know that the public is aware of their existence and their whereabouts, they understand that they are the prime suspects of such crimes, and hence refrain from such criminal acts (Chaudhuri, 2017). Therefore, incidences of child abduction, rape, and murder showed a significant decrease after the implementation of the law. Megan’s law provides the community with a sense of security and it is an awakening tool for creating awareness.
Conclusion
As noted above, there are laws, policies, and regulations meant to restrict individuals convicted of sexual assault. Such policies include registration and society notification, as well as work and residential limitations. Although notification and compliance to the set laws can be complicated, the main goal of enforcing Megan’s law is to protect citizens against sex criminals and ensure child abduction is contained. The strength of the law is that it keeps the citizens aware of the presence of a previously convicted rape perpetrator, thus enabling them to take precautions against falling victim to sexual abuse by the same person.
References
Chaudhuri, T. (2017). Megan’s Law and Durkheim’s perspective of punishment: Retribution, rehabilitation or both? Journal of Arts and Humanities, 6(7), 62-73. Web.
Genord, A. R. (2019). International Megan’s law as compelled speech. Mich. L. Rev., 118, 1603. Web.
Zgoba, K. M., Jennings, W. G. & Salerno, L. M. (2018). Megan’s law 20 years later: An empirical analysis and policy review. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 45(7), 1028-1046. Web.