Megan's Law Policy Analysis

More children are exposed to sexual assault and rape than you probably think. According to d2l.org (Darkness to Light), “About 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday.” Melinda Sordino is the one out of ten. In Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino shows us the thoughts and feelings experienced by many of these young victims. Melinda was raped by Andy Evans while attending an end-of-summer party before her freshman year of high school. This assault impacted Melinda in various ways and many symptoms remained with her throughout the school year. As a result of the sexual abuse, Melinda begins to showcase the various psychological effects of rape; physical and mental instability, feelings of guilt and worthlessness

The effectiveness of sex offender registrations and what do individuals do with that information, are questions that are being raised. We know that parents often seek information on individuals who they feel may pose a risk to their children. Whether it is a babysitter or the teenage boy next door, these parents find information by frequenting the sex offender registry. Sarah Tofte, one of the authors of the Human Rights Watch suggests, that the laws are written so broadly that even individuals who have not necessarily committed a sex crime have to register as a sex offender. If an individual urinate or expose oneself in public, that individual has to register as a sex offender and will be portrayed as such to parents and other individuals who view the registry. Some individuals who are placed on sex registrations are registered from 10 years to even lifetime registration. 87% of sex crimes committed over the year are committed by offenders who have never committed a sexual offense before.

Choice. It is one of the basic human rights everyone should have. However, sometimes the ability to make your own choice is hindered. When New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a law to ban large-sized sugary drinks, the city was splintered. Some people believed it was the right thing to do while others disagreed. Limiting the amount of soda a person can purchase is not a good idea, despite its benefits. The regulation itself has a multitude of problems, such as how there are many contradictions, how involved the government is, and how the ban doesn’t really improve health.

Consent can be defined as voluntary agreement, compliance or permission. Consent is a unilateral act, and so consent may be withdrawn by one person. People are allowed to “waive their legal rights” if they choose to do so. This would mean that the victim, by consenting to suffer harm, excuses the wrongful conduct of the person who has inflicted the harm and thereby excuses him/her of being held liable. The principle of volenti non fit iniuria applies, he who consents cannot be harmed.

No research to date has indicated that applying harsher penalties or mandating national registries has reduced the recidivism rates among sex offenders, reduced sex trafficking against minors, nor child pornography. Despite the ongoing efforts of The Adam Walsh Act alongside other child safety acts as well, children in the United States are still perishing from sexual and physical abuse each day. According to data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), “49 States reported a total of 1,585 fatalities. Based on these data, a nationally estimated 1,670 children died from abuse or neglect in FFY 2015, which is 5.7 percent more than in 2011. This translates to a rate of 2.25 children per 100,000 children in the general population and an average of nearly five children dying every day from abuse or neglect”.(www.childwarefare.gov) Human Rights Watch shares that “the real risks that children face are quite different: government statistics indicate that most sexual abuse of children are committed by family members or trusted authority figures, and by someone who has not previously been convicted of a sex offense.”(www.hrw.org) Consequently, when evaluating the evidence that is present it is safe to say, that despite all of the efforts that are put forth every day to protect our youth, some people still have the potential to prey on those whom cannot defend themselves. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 has afforded the public with ammunition to fire back at those who prey on the vulnerable. Therefore, the foundation has been laid, for the public to build upon and grow with the knowledge that we are able to obtain to keep our children safe. Furthermore, we cannot solely rely on law enforcement, and others to keep our children safe we have to be proactive within the

The Utah Sex Offender Registry has many purposes and has been around for quite some time. Unfortunately, every state is different and often times the entertainment industry portrays the registry in a false light. The Utah Department of Corrections wants to deflate some of the major myths surrounding the sex offender registry.

The question is to research the Megan Law based on the ideal characteristics of criminal law. Is Megan Law a good law? In my opinion, no law is perfect, but our laws are made to protect the people, for instance, politicality is the infringement of our state rules and is considered a good law. This law makes it mandatory in almost every state that sex offenders register. The law of specificity provides a strict definition of certain acts. Chapter four refers to specificity "as the scope of criminal law" (Bohm & Haley, 2014, p.97). These acts can be ruled not criminal if certain information is not proven to have been present when the crime was committed. The state rules for sex offenders that have been convicted of this crime be persecuted and their information made public. This reminds

n 1984, Leroy Hendricks was convicted of having indecent liberties with two 13-year old boys. As punishment for his action, Mr. Hendricks was remanded to the penal institutional system to serve his prison sentence. After serving ten years in prison, Mr. Hendricks was going to be stepped down to a halfway house. In the state of Kansas, they implemented the Sexually Violent Predator Act in 1994. This act “establishes procedures for the civil commitment of persons who, due to a mental abnormality or a personality disorder, are likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence (Brody & Acker, 2010, p.4). Due to the extensive sexually offensive history against minors that Mr. Hendricks had, he was deemed to continue to pose a threat to those in society. It was his past history of performing sexual acts against children and his own admission that he could not control his urges, that inclined the District Attorney’s ofice to file a motion to have Leroy Hendricks civilly committed under the Sexually Violent Predator Act. Mr. Hendricks attorney requested that his client be evaluated to determine if he could be labeled as a sexually violent offender. Based on Mr. Hendricks testimony

case has ruled in favor of Lester Gerard Packingham. The state from now on may not bar social

Mass hysteria swept our nation off of its feet in the 1980s and 1990s. Except this time, it was not about communism or witchcraft. It was something just as eerie--child molestation at day cares. Yet with all of this chaos going on in the United State, there were instances of false accusations which lead to innocent people being locked behind bars for years. Insufficient evidence, confirmation bias and false accusations all contributed to the injustice. Though some cases of molestation and abuse during times of mass hysteria may be true, false accusations tend to occur because of over exaggeration of the fad.

Chapter Eight of the book Flawed Criminal Justice Policies, authors take the closer look at the laws and faulty policy regarding the sex offenders. According to the book policy makers started the myriad laws to protect the public from the sex offenders with increased prison sentences, and restricting the residences to the violators. Today we have very similar situation when it comes to treatment of sexual offenders. The process starts with the sex offender being committed to the prison sentence, and lastly to being registered as a sex offender on many public websites, so that the people could distinguish who the sex offender is and where he/she lives.

This would be beneficial to communities to know where these offenders live and what they look like so they could avoid them. Megan’s Law provides info about the offender’s conviction and a very detailed description of the offense. Even for non-violent offender’s this would be good for the community to know the identity of the person and a description of what they did. Lisa Squitieri stated, “It has been effective for what it was intended to be. It put sex offenders on notice and notifies the public. It does that

America has a strict law, which protects our citizens from predators; sex offender registries are exemplifications. In the article “Protect Yourself, Family From Sex Offenders,” Rick Schneider argues that sex offender’s name should not be taken off even after they had served their time. Many can argue that registries are a good way for the government authorities to keep track, and to protect the community from any violence caused by sex offenders. For example, many people may believe the registry protects people from predators because it allows others to know where the predators are and how likely they are to strike again. On the other hand, some people consider that it is “horribly unfair” to release the names and addresses of offenders that

Harold Wilson, the Labour Politician who became Prime Minister in 1964, passed the Criminal Justice Act of 1967, which introduced reform in three sections: the prison system and sentencing practises of courts, juvenile offenders and the law on murder. A suspended sentence was introduced which aimed at reducing mandatory prison sentences. Magistrates were encouraged to not give prison sentences to people who had only committed minor offences. This resulted in fewer people going to prison for crimes punishable by a fine or community service. Sydney Silverman managed to abolish the death penalty in 1965 which was seen as huge progress. The Criminal Justice Act of 1972 introduced fully the rehabilitation method of community service which reduced the number of people going to prison. Community service gave offenders a chance to turn their negative impact on the community to a positive one. Wilson made huge changes to the Criminal Justice System and the changes he made were positive.

The purpose of this paper is to look at recidivism rates among adult and juvenile sex offenders, and male and female sex offenders, in order to better understand who is likely to recidivate and why.