Megan's Law Case Study

Megan’s Law was created in 1994 in honor of Megan Kanka a seven-year-old who lived in Township, New Jersey that was coaxed into a known pedophile's house while outside her home riding her bike with the promise of seeing a new puppy. (Schapiro, 2014) Therefore, she was raped and murdered by this known pedophile who lived in her community named Jesse Timmendequas. Megan Kanka’s body was discovered in Mercer County Park. (Schapiro, 2014) Jesse Timmendequas lived across the street from Megan Kanka and had two prior convictions for sexual assault in which he had been released after serving a maximum sentence. (Schapiro, 2014) Megan's Law is the common term for state and federal laws that require the whereabouts of high-risk sex offenders through

Sex offenders are known to live in economically deprived and socially disorganized communities with limited access to public notification. (Levenson, et al., 2015) Consequently, people living in low-income communities may not have access to a computer to keep up with the sex offender’s registry, which put them more at risk. In my opinion, professionals have a primary duty to promote the recovery of sex offenders. There should be psychological and rehabilitation treatment available to help sex offenders re-entry back into the communities. Policies have supported Megan’s Law despite the absence of evidence creating a variety of problems within states that Megan’s Law has achieved its goal. While notification laws and access to sex offender databases may give parents a sense of security, they may distract parents from paying attention to friends and family members who pose a potentially higher risk than the sex offenders on state registries. (Larson, 2016) The number of unreported sex crimes committed by registered sex offenders relative to the number of individuals without a record of sexual offenses is unknown. (Bonnar-Kidd, 2010) In my opinion, Megan’s Law has reduced sexual violence by a specific number of reported sexual

Y. (2010). Sex Offender Registries: Fear without Function? SAEN, Inc. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from https://www.saeninc.org/registry_effectiveness

Bonnar-Kidd, K. K. (2010). Sexual Offender Laws and Prevention of Sexual Violence or Recidivism. American Journal of Public Health, 100(3), 412–419. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from http://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2008.153254

Larson, A. (2016). What is Megan’s Law? Expert Law. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from https://www.expertlaw.com/library/criminal/megans_law.html

Levenson, J. S., D’Amora, D. A. & Hern, A. L. (2015). Megan’s Law and its Impact on Community Re-Entry of Sex Offenders. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241531174_The_Effect_of_Megan's_Law_on_Sex_Offender_Reintegration

Megan's Law. (2008). West's Encyclopedia of American Law, Edition 2. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Megan%27s+Law

Schapiro, R. (2014). Parents of little girl who inspired Megan's Law recall brutal rape, and murder of their daughter 20 years later. Daily News. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from