Effects of Megans Law Essays

Effects of Megans Law Essays Effects of Megans Law Essay Effects of Megans Law Essay Running Head: Meganâ„ ¢s Law Is Meganâ„ ¢s Law an Effective Deterrent for Sexual Abuse Name Course Course instructor Date of submission Introduction Meganâ„ ¢s law is a law designed within the U.S to facilitate notification of communities and giving information to communities when potentially dangerous sex offenders move into any neighborhood. As such the resident of the neighborhood should by be notified of the nature of their new neighbor to ensure that protect themselves and their families against the risk of sexual assault of any kind. In the implementation of the law, the way the notification of conducted varies across states, and occasionally from one community to another within the same state. The enactment of this law and its provisions has encouraged sates to make attempts at tracking the domicile of sex offender at state level and providing the information to the members of the public. It is upon states to decide on how they want the information disseminated. In most cases the information provided to the public include the ex-sexual offenderâ„ ¢s name, date of incineration, the offendersâ„ ¢ pictures, t heir address and the kind of crime they were involved in. the effectiveness of this law in achieving it required intent can be a subject of great debate marred with skepticism optimism and pessimism. The most likely question regarding this kind of legislation is whether the law is effective in deterring sexual related offenses or not. Certainly, the legislation is has be hailed in preventing pervious sexual offender from committing more offenses of the same nature. This essay is going to analyze and discus whether Meganâ„ ¢s Law an Effective Deterrent for Sexual Abuse. Origin of Meganâ„ ¢s law Meganâ„ ¢s law was legislated following the case of Megan Kanka, 7 years old girl who was killed after being raped by Jesse Timmendequas, her 33 years old neighbor. Apparently Timmendequas had be convicted twice previously for similar offences. This horrible incident together with other numerous accounts of sexual molestation of children encouraged the legislation of the Meganâ„ ¢s law to curb against similar incidences in future. When the law was being formulated, there were numerous critics who did not hesitate to air their disapproval stating that the law could not help the situation much (Saunders, 1997). Indeed, their arguments seem to have been right since there is little to show of it 15 years after its enactment. Despite the controversies that surrounded it the, president Bill Clinton gave his presidential assent in 1996 the making it a law. Evidence of success There is little evidence that this law helps reduce sexual abuse of minors. What most states refer to as success or benefits is simply the assumed outcome of the enactment of the law that is backed with no evidence. The assumption is mostly based on the behavior of the parentsâ„ ¢ offender and the community at large. According to Fitch (2006) no research has ever been conducted to determine the success of the laws but the authorities continue praising and enforcing it. According to McClare (2010) only one study has been conducted so far concerning the performance of the law. This was conducted by Bonita Veysey, Philip Witt, Kristen Zgoba and Melissa Dalessandro in 2008 and came up with a report for the New Jersey Department of Corrections. The only outcome of the law was simplification of the arrest of sexual offenders. Benefit of the law to parents The provision of Meganâ„ ¢s law makes sure that sex predators are not allowed to continue preying on innocent children such as Megan. Albeit, if Meganâ„ ¢s parent were aware that their neighbor was reported to have committed sexual offense twice, they would have taken precaution and prevented any contact between their child and the sexual offender to prevent the probability of him preying on their incent child as his third victim. Such prior knowledge of ones new neighbors is what Meganâ„ ¢s Law seeks to equip parents with to ensure that they protect their children from the misdemeanor of serial sexual offenders. As such the law provides a tool for that helps incorporate the support of the public with that of the police and other relevant authorities in preventing sexual molestation of people especially children. As such the public has access specific information which in many cases depends on the state where one lives. About 15 states within America have online data bases providing information to the public about sexual offenders. In this databases once can access the information on sexual predators using their names or zip codes. Various data bases provide information concerning the last known address of sexual offenders as well as some information regarding their crimes. Some data bases provide photographs of the sexual offenders for easy identification while in some situation residents are required to visit police stations in order to gain access to the databases where they can draw information and make handwritten notes concerning the criminals. The amount of information the public can access from the police varies from state to state. Some states even demand that the offenders place signs at their place of residences while other provide notification to schools and neighborhoods. Benefits of the law to investigators The Meganâ„ ¢s law has been beneficial to investigators. According to the California Office of the attorney General the provision of online registries of previous sexual offenders has made it easy for investigators to track the sexual offenders or suspected sexual offenders (Brown, 2009; California Office of the Attorney General, 2010). The California offendersâ„ ¢ registry provides offenders addresses which are very helpful to any investigation agencies that are interested in investigating local sex offender or crimes. As such an offender who violates the registry regulation can be tracked and brought to book. However, in some states the status quo has remained more or less the same despite the enactment of the law. This could be translated into an understanding that the law has had little disturbance as far as sexual abuse if corned. As study in conducted in Washington DC in 2008 found that the change that was realized by the enactment of this law was very negligible. According to the author, the only commendable achievement realized by the law was making the arrest of sexual offender easier than the arrest of other offenders. The negative effects of the law Despite the raging debate about the consequences of the law most proponent argue that the benefits realized due to the enactment of the law greatly outweigh is negative effects. The law has had various impacts on the offenders. Sex offenders have been on record citing various challenges that have befallen them since the enactment of the law. According to Larson (2003) the offenders have to bear with the notion that the security of the public outweighs their privacy. In this regard, they have to live around people who know them completely and sometimes monitor them closely. Indeed, Levenson Cotter (2005) notes that the offenders have reported that the enactment of Meganâ„ ¢s law has lead to loss of relationships, social stigmatization loss of the offenders, physical and verbal assault to the offenders, and loss of housing and employment. According to Levenson Cotter (2005) many offenders have come to regard the notification of the public about the previous misdemeanor as an activity which motivates disapproval and stereotyping of sexual offenders as inexorably chronic sexual predators. The main negative incidence brought about by the Meganâ„ ¢s Law is the fear of vigilantism. In most cases when neighbors become aware of a sex offender in their midlist they cause physical abuse to them or drive them out of the neighborhood. Such fears are not baseless but emanate from the numerous incidences of vigilantism that have already been experienced across the country. Also notable negative outcome is the discouragement of sex offenders from adhering to the laws concerning the registration of persons. Although failure to register ones residence it typically consider to be felony, an estimated 20% of sex offenders fail to consistently fail to comply with the registration laws and regulations. By far the United Kingdom which does not have such legislation is better that the US with a 97 percent adherence to the registration laws meant for the sexual offenders. It is also worth nothing that some sexual offender may have benefited positively from the law. Some previous sexual offenders have observed that the Meganâ„ ¢s law has ensured that they become honest in their dealings with other people, something that previously would have been very difficult for them. This change in attitude and demeanor has ensured that they receive support from even those who seemed unlikely to offer such kind of support. Increased public awareness has also reduced the access to victims as the law increasingly becomes perceived to be a positive tool for risk management. Poor data bases Some information databases also seem to provide wrong in formation or incomprehensible information to the public. The variance of information presented form one states data base to another leaves room for great inconsistencies. Incomplete databases are also common. Most databases do not provide information concerning the crimes the offenders committed and some have crimes written in abbreviation which can easily lead to confusion. A few database gives detailed information though concerning the criminal history of contact with minors, compliance and other. A study conducted in 2005 by Levenson and Cotter report several inconsistencies in the registry of sexual offenders on Florida. Levenson and Cotter interviewed a total of 183 convicted sexual offenders on the state of Florida during this study and according to their respondents over half of the information on these databases was wrong. A similar study by Tewksbury (2002) in regard to the consistency of the information given on the Kentucky data base found that more than 25% of the total of 537 entries made in the database had wrong addresses and less than a half of the entries had the photographs of the sexual predators included. Incase of incomplete information or failure to update the database indicating changes such as appearances changes that occur overtime, the recorded information can lead to mistaken identity thus encouraging victimization of totally innocent families The shortcoming of the Meganâ„ ¢s law have earned it many critics who feel that the law has done little to reduce sexual predation more so by people who had previously been convicted of sexual offenses. Seemingly the provision of databases simply serves more to generate oppression and stigmatization of the sexual offenders than it serves to deter them from committing the same misdemeanor they committed before. For instance, if someone who committed a sexual offense is interested in committing a similar offense, he can simply take a car and move to the next town where little is known about him commit the same mistakes that earned him a jail term previously then drive back to his neighborhood where every parent keeps a watchful eye on him. In this regard the critics of the law believe that what the laws do is to give the offenders a new disguise and give the parents false belief that their children are well protected from such predators. Indeed, the law also makes parents or guard ian to ignore other sources of risks to children. Evidently, children face great risks from their relatives and family friends than they do from strangers. Larson (2003) asserts that the Meganâ„ ¢s laws provide parents with information about previous sexual offender who may not be relatives or friends; as such parent may spend quality time guarding their children against strangers and ignore the risks posed by those who are so close to the children. This is because ignorance of what happened within gives sex pets within the family to prey on then innocent children. In this regard it is upon parents to be keen and not what happens to their children development instead of solely depending on the national registries for sexual offenders. Many critics perceive notification as a poor tool of dealing with sexual offender. As such some people have called for reintegration of sexual offender back into the society and make them productive citizens. Unfortunately, integration becomes very difficult especially if there is some hostility towards the sexual offenders. According to Saunders (1997), some critics believe that treatment of the offender could provide the best avenue or reintegrating them in to the society without the fear that they may repeat their crimes at a later date. Treatment does the opposite of notification. Whereas notification encourages segregation and stigmatization, treatment helps the sexual offender to move towards positive socialization. Fitch (2007) noted those offenders who gain stability within their lives and are also properly re-integrated into the community are less likely to repeat their sexual offensive crimes. He further notes that Meganâ„ ¢s law on the other hand negatively impact s on the offendersâ„ ¢ ability to regains stability by limiting their ability to get jobs and housing. The offenders further face social segregation and as a result may never be able to complete their treatment. Such individual may in turn pose a greater risk to the society and children in general than they previously did. Conclusion Certainly Meganâ„ ¢s Law has underachieved or rather it is not performing at all. This is a fact that would leave the critics marveling at their accurateness in disregarding the legislation during its enactment after the rape and murder of the young Megan. Certainly giving information regarding sexual offender to parents and the community at large is a one sided strategy that only targets at preventing the victims contact with the predators. In this regard it is evident that the law does little to discourage the sexual offender from repeatedly committing sexual offenses. In a nut shell telling parents that their neighbor is a sexual offender only gives them false hope as they monitor their neighbors expecting their children be safe. What such parents may not know is that their relation and friends have the potential of harming their children even more than the former convict. The stigmisation that the law has accorded sex offender has been grate and a good number has suff ered verbal and physical injuries at the hands of their neighbors. The inconsistencies of the registries provided by the police also serve to worsen the underachievement poised by the law. It is however amazing how the authorities continue to hail the law even when they no that not much has been realized since its legislation in1996. Instead of praising the law the authorities should invest more in finding way of making the law realize a more tangible success that it has done before. Certainly both the critics and the supporters of the Meganâ„ ¢s law have a right to their views. Such view however could provide a sound source of ideas on how to improve the peace of legislation or delete it and come up with a better one to ensure that children are totally protected. Reference Brown, E. G. Jr. (2009). California Sex offender information Meganâ„ ¢s Law 2008. Report to the California Legislature. California Office of the Attorney General Fitch, K. (2006). Megans Law: does it protect children An updated review of evidence on the impact of community notification as legislated for by Megans Law in the United States. nspcc.org.uk/inform/research/findings/meganslaw_wda48233.html Fitch, K. (2007). Sex offender management: childrenâ„ ¢s rights, Meganâ„ ¢s law and the child sex offenders review. Retrieved July 31. 2010 from nspcc.org.uk/Inform/policyandpublicaffairs/sexoffendermanagement_wdf50066.pdf Larson, A. (2003). Megans Law. Retrieved July 31. 2010 from expertlaw.com/library/criminal/megans_law.html Letourneau, J et al. (2010). Effects of South Carolinaâ„ ¢s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Policy on Deterrence of Adult Sex Crimes. Criminal Justice and Behavior May 1, 2010 37: 477-481 Levenson, J and Cotter, L (2005) The Effect of Meganâ„ ¢s Law on Sex Offender Reintegration Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Vol. 21, No. 1. February 2005, pp.49-66 McClare, K. (2010).The Effects of Megans Law. July 31. 2010 from ehow.com/list_6546829_effects-megan_s-law.html Office of the attorney general. (2010) Meganâ„ ¢s Law. Retrieved July 31. 2010 from meganslaw.ca.gov/homepage.aspxlang=ENGLISH Saunders, S. (1997).Megans Law. wright-house.com/ac/papers97/Saunders-ac1.html Tewksbury, R (2002) Validity and Utility of the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry Federal Probation, No. 66(1), pp. 21-26