Sex Offender Laws

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 1996, Megan’s Law was created to help police during their investigation of sex crimes and to let the public know about the identities and location of the offender. Along with the Adam Walsh Child Protection and the Safety Act of 2006, sex offenders must fill a list of information about themselves in a database; this includes their names, finger prints, a recent photo, etc. this database has three risk tiers in order to know how dangerous the offender is, with tier one is the lowest risk and tier three being the highest. With the community being a big part in dealing with sex offenders, notification statutes were made for people who want information about them. With community notification laws in place, parents must take extra precaution

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

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

Jennifer, I enjoyed reading your post, especially when you mention employers hiring sex offenders taking opposing employment action against that employee based on the sex offender status. Megan’s Law is different from state to state. Tennessee Megan’s Law says that within 48 hours upon release from prison the offender must register; can one commit a crime within that 48-hour window. (Megan’s Law for Tennessee, 2016) Tennessee Megan’s Law states if you move into Tennessee from another state and are a registered offender you must register with Tennessee, who notifies Tennessee when an offender relocates here. (Megan’s Law for Tennessee, 2016) Offenders want the chance to move back into society, but the Megan’s Law needs more classification to make offenders accountable. It seems as if the Fourth

Megan’s law was enacted in 1994 after a sexual predator newly released from prison lured this young child into his house and assaulted her and killed her. The basic premise behind this law was to require sex offenders to register and for people to be informed after they get out of a prison. The core requirement calls for public notification whenever a sex offender is released from prison in the community (Doerner & Lab, 2012). The law has three levels of offenders from low to high and based on which level they determine what course of action the community is warned. There are mixed returns on the practical of this law reducing recidivism in sex crimes. Like most policies, it was put together rather quickly and had the best of intentions, but overall it looks to be not living up to the promise. Despite broad community support for these laws,

States control how long they must register for, what types of crimes make them a sex-offender, and what all information must be made public. Juveniles can also be considered sex-offenders, these records are often expunged, but according to the state they can be registered until they are eighteen or even longer (2011). A law with so many layers is bound to cause controversy among the public; although enacting Megan’s Law was done with good intentions it has caused a negative social stigma towards sex offenders with low risk of

On July 29, 1994 in a small town in New Jersey, a 7 year old girl was lured into the home of Jesse Timmendequas after the promise of a puppy. What followed was the sexual assault and brutal murder of Megan Kanka, her body found in Mercer Park the next day. Timmendequas was arrested quickly and at which time his prior charges were brought to light. Timmendequas had been priorly charged with attacking a 5 year old child and attempted sexual assault of a 7 year old (“Parents For Megan’s Law”). These facts sparked community outrage, and petitions that demanded the right to be made more aware of sexual predators circulated the state. Megan Kanka’s parent pushed for the state legislators to create a new law, stating that “ if they had known about

Sexual assault occurs every two minutes in the United States. Sexual violence against women is still endemic in the United States. Statistics show nearly one in five women have been sexually assaulted. Managing sex offenders is still an issue in the criminal justice system. Repeat offenders are extremely difficult to monitor. The national legislature monitoring system contains an absence of effective research in monitoring sex offenders. Sexual offender registration and notification Act (SORNA) operates in all the US states and territories. The objective is to monitor and track sex offenders by law enforcement. Also they provide information to the public and the communities about the offenders. For example, the National registry allows the public to be informed of a registered offender and their demographics.

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.

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 constitution of Massachusetts is a subordinate to the constitution of United States, as would any other state’s constitution be. It is therefore mandated to register sex offenders within its borders. The presence of decentralized statutes in the different states however results to different regulations on registration of sex offenders among many other laws. The constitution of Massachusetts abundantly outlines what is considered as sexual crimes and offenses. Not all of them, however, require their perpetuators to register as sexual offenders. Some examples of the major crimes that would mandate registration are such as rape, assault with the aim of committing rape, kidnapping a child and introducing a minor to prostitution. The rest of the crimes mandated for registration are further listed an outlined on http://www.mass.gov/eopss/crime-prev-personal-sfty/sex-offenders/information-for-sex-offenders.html

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

In the United States, failure to adequately discriminate between and among sex offenses and the overuse of the label “sex offense” has led to the polarization and over criminalization of sex crimes and has resulted in a lack of reintegration options for these alleged criminals. The term “sex offender” needs to be reserved for those individuals who best represent the meaning of the term. (Colbert, 2011, p. 1) According to US Department of Justice, a sex offender is anyone convicted of an offense of a sexual nature under the law of any jurisdiction, this also includes juveniles fourteen years of age and older. (Colbert, 2011, p. 1) In the United States, the term sex offender is too broad and can be very misleading. There is a widespread misconception among society that the meaning of sex offender is pedophile and rapist, but a sex offender can be someone that was caught urinating in public or they can be underage teenagers having consensual sex. This lack of distinction between sex offenses results in a misinformed society and this absence of information in regards to sex offenses and the presence of the sex offender registry fuels society 's ignorance and heightened prejudices towards "sex offenses." The stigma that comes with the label "sex offense” persists beyond sentencing due to the parameters of the law, making reintegration of alleged criminals into society overbearing and near impossible. These registries are public record, however they only state partial information