Sex Offender Registration

Post #1

It is incredibly important to study the sex offender registration law because it aids the government to find ways to protect the public from offenders and make sure the law is being followed accordingly. By studying the law it also gives some insight to the citizens unaware of such laws.

The sex offender law or Megan’s Law according to the public is named after seven-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed by a known child molester who had moved across the street from the family without their knowledge. In the wake of the tragedy, the Kanka’s sought to have local communities warned about sex offenders in the area. All states now have some form of Megan's Law. The law is not intended to punish the offender and specifically prohibits using the information to harass or commit any crime against an offender was passed by the Legislature on August 24, 2004 and signed by the Governor on September 24, 2004. The law gives the public access to use their computers to view information on sex offenders required to register with local law enforcement.

The law affects the family, neighborhoods, friends and the local law enforcement surrounding the victim. Family members of the victim are directly affected due to the fact that someone they love has been scarred for life and retained a horrible memory of the experience. Neighborhoods of the victim feel unsafe because someone who lived so close to them was raped, murdered, or worse against their will. Friends of the victim do not know what to do or what to say in situations where an incident happened that they have no personal experience in dealing with in their lifetime. A law enforcement officer never likes getting called to a case of rape, murder, or kidnapping concerning a woman. It is especially disheartening to know it was a sex offender who might have been registered with the local law enforcement.

The cost to keep probation and police officers checking up on registered sex offenders is like all the other local law enforcement agencies. An officer will check up on the offender if they have no heard from them or failed to register five days before or after their birthday. Nonetheless, the check ups take up their time. The Sexual Predator Apprehension Team is part of the California Bureau of Investigations, which tries to make sure all registered sex offenders are updated and apprehend those who have either failed to update their home of residence.

The New York Times reported a recent case in the Northern California area of a man who has been a registered sex offender for more than 20 years who is accused of kidnapping a young girl and holding her captive for 18 years. This case has raised eyebrows as to how effective the registered list available online is to the safety of the public. Phillip Garrido, the California man accused of such a crime had kept up with the law and checked in with the local authorities each year for the past decade. Some experts say that the lists may lead people to presume that anyone registered must also be elaborately monitored when, in truth, the monitoring of sex offender laws are different from state to state.

The future of the sex offender registration law is double sided. On one hand, there are more sex offenders being apprehended and updated on the database. The public can see if a sex offender lives in their neighborhood to keep a close eye on their children. A negative remark about the law is the issue that the public might take matters in their own hands and harass, embarrass, or cause harm to the offender. Yes, they committed a repulsive act on another human being but let the justice system take care of that. No matter what, they are still human beings like you and I, regardless of personal reasons against such crimes. The law will either hurt or advance our learning concerning such issues of sex crimes.

Davey, Monica. ( 2009, September 1). Case Shows Limits of Sex Offender Alert Programs. New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/us/02offenders.html?scp=3&sq=Sex %20Offender%20law&st=cse