megans law

A detailed Summary of megans law

Megan's Law is named after seven- year old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed by a known child molester in 1994. The felon moved in across the street from the Kankas, without their knowledge. Megan's parents embarked on a national crusade to change federal and state laws to allow for community notification of released sex offenders (Johnson11). After this event, few could argue that communities should be notified when a sex offender moves in. However, present sentencing laws need to be stiffened and accuracy problems within Megan's law need to be fixed, for the law to be completely acceptable.

Should communities be notified when a convicted sex offender relocates in their neighborhood? Some say that this law is a direct violation of the constitution. The constitution talks about our unalienable rights, which include, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But sometimes people do things that make us question whether they deserve these rights that us honest people enjoy. Those against Megan's law would say that these rights apply to everyone. When we make exceptions, we start to pick and choose who has which rights. If this were to happen it would spread to other laws changing many things. Howev

"People in favor of Megan's law feel that the safety of America's children should be kept at all cost's, even if it means limiting the offenders rights" (Jones84). If sex offenders are truly rehabilitated, why then do 80 to 90 percent repeat their crimes? This statistic alone should be enough to warrant the law and it shows offenders are still violent even after a prison term (Sheppard44.)

"One example of repeat offenders is the story of a man who lured a boy on a trail, chased him down on his bike, then raped, mutilated and stabbed him in the back. Somehow the boy survived and the man, Earl Shiner was caught. However, this did not have to happen. Shiner had a 24-year history of offenses starting in 1966. He was guilty of five offenses, including one murder. This man lived right down the street from the boy, however the information from his past had not been released" (People49.) This law would have notified the child's parents and they could have informed their child to stay away from this person, or at least keep a closer eye on the boy.

Another argument against Megan's law is an idea that, "they have already paid their debt to society. These offenders have served prison time. Why should they be different than murders, thieves, and other criminals? Many feel that releasing their names to the community prolongs their punishment forever. They are treated less than human because of something that has happened in the past. Some communities have felt so strongly about it that they resorted to vigilantism. In one extreme case an offender's car was firebombed" (Jones85-86). The problem is many of these offenders served very little time and are not really rehabilitated. Today's prisons are so overcrowded, that people of lesser charges are shipped out far before their time is up. Few serve their terms in full, and many are released early due to good behavior. But if you think about it, why would a c

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Approximate Word count = 1300
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History