Sex Offender Registration Laws
- Sex offender registration laws keep communities safe.Justice image by MVit from Fotolia.com
Sex offender registration laws are important legal means of keeping the public safe from sex offenders that are living within the general population after incarceration. Laws vary from state to state, though some policies span the entire country. Sex offender registration laws work in many ways: giving parents access to information about criminals living in their area, eliminating statute of limitations and enacting parole regulations to keep offenders honest once they leave prison. - The Jacob Wetterling Act was passed in 1994, which requires states to create a sex offender registration program to give people a resource to locate sex offenders in their community. The Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996 created an addition to the registry which "requires lifetime registration for recidivists and offenders who commit certain aggravated offenses," according to the US Department of Justice. The act was amended through Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act, which requires offenders to notify authorities if they enroll or work at an institution of higher learning.
- Megan Kanka was raped and murdered in New Jersey in 1995 by a convicted sex offender. A law was passed in her name that works in tandem with the Jacob Wetterling act. The law "allows the States discretion to establish criteria for disclosure, but compels them to make private and personal information on registered sex offenders available to the public." Proponents of the law believe it helps law enforcement professionals in investigations, it helps parents know about offenders in their area and acts as a deterrent to keep offenders from committing more acts of violence and abuse against children.
- The popular television show host from America's Most Wanted, John Walsh, became an advocate against criminals when his own son, Adam, was kidnapped from a store in Florida and murdered in the 1980s. Walsh is a vocal advocate for the safety of children and worked to pass the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act in 2006. Walsh called it "the toughest piece of child protection legislation in 25 years and a great example of bipartisan politics." The act seeks to make it harder for sex offenders to disappear into society by creating a national online registry of offenders and harsher prison sentences for criminals who fail to register as required. The law created three classifications of offenders---the high-risk offenders have to check in with law enforcement more often and all offenders must to do so in person. Adam's Act also removes the statute of limitations for felony sex crimes against children and child abduction, and makes registration a requirement of probation for sex offenders.
