User:Sbellizzi5/sandbox

Megan was seven years old when she was kidnapped raped and murdered by her next door neighbor in Hamilton Township,NJ. The Kanka family would never have let Megan go to his house if they have known that he would do something like that.They didn't know that he was a two time sex offender. In response the Kanka family fought for a law to be passed that would inform people that their is a pedofile living near by. The new law was first passed in 1994 in New Jersey, then it was turned into a federal law in 1996. Today this law is passed over the world in remembrance of Megan Kanka. This law prevents sex offenders to come into a sex offender free zone or if it isn't a sex offender free zone then the sex offenders have to go to house to house and tell the community that he or she is a sex offender and that they’re moving in, in their neighborhood. This law affects the local police, communities, the family of the victim and sex offenders. "The US Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that just 14 percent of all sexual assault cases reported to law enforcement agencies involved offenders who were strangers to their victims. Sexual assault victims under the age of 18 at the time of the crime knew their abusers in nine out of 10 cases: the abusers were family members in 34 percent of cases, and acquaintances in another 59 percent of cases.When the sexual assault victim was under six years old, almost half (49 percent) of the offenders were family members."

"The US Department of Justice tracked 9,691 male sex offenders in 15 states who were released from prison in 1994 and found that within three years only 5.3 percent of all sex offenders were arrested, and 3.5 percent convicted, for a new sex crime; 2.2 percent were rearrested for a sex offense against a child."

" The analysis, which included over 29,000 sex offenders, found that within four to six years of release, 14 percent of all sex offenders will be arrested or convicted for a new sex crime. Over a 15-year period, recidivism rates for all sex offenders averaged 24 percent. This is not a trivial rate by any means, given the seriousness of the offenses committed. Yet it also indicates that three out of four sexually violent offenders do not re-offend."

Cons to Megan's law: Registered felons have trouble finding housing and employment

People can easily find registration information on the internet

People will think of them as threats to the community

Registration is not required for those convicted of other offenses, such as murder

Records are often out of date or inaccurate

Pros to Megan's law: Citizens have a right to know if there is a sex offender living in their neighborhood.

Its easier to get information on the felon The people of America are more inclined to help the innocent children because the kids have a bright future ahead of them but the felons have already blown their chance for a bright future