Megan's Law in Hawaii

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Hawaii's laws regarding sexual offenders have nothing in particular unique about them as they are modeled on successful laws passed in other States, including California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The paper states that the Hawaii's Supreme Court struck down Megan's Law, as enacted by the State of Hawaii, on November, 21 2001, because they ruled that it violated due process, right to privacy and equal protection under the law. The author believes that Hawaii made an error in its original version of Megan's Law when it did not contain provisions for allowing convicted sex offenders out of the requirements of registering in a meaningful amount of time.

Table of Contents
History of Registering Sex Offenders in Hawaii
Registering Sex Offenders and Public Access
Known Problems with Offenders Not Registering
Problems with Offenders Housing
Legal Statues
Unique Provisions of the Law
Current Stats
Where does Megan's Law Stand in Hawaii / Opposition to the Law
Conclusions

From the Paper:

"The State maintains a database that citizens can access from any county police station headquarters in their area. The database contains information on all those convicted of any crimes, as well as sex crimes. The weak point of the database seems to be that if your sexual crime was not committed in Hawaii, there seems no provision for accessing information about the person or the crime. The computers are accessible during normal business hours Monday through Friday. The State used to have a website that could be accessed but because Megan's Law, as it was written by the Legislature in Hawaii, was struck down by the Hawaiian Supreme Court that web site has go off line. The Legislature has sense rewritten the law. According to the State's official governmental website you can still access the information on line but when you click on the link you go to a page that says it is still under construction."

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• Term Paper # 127261 : "Felony Process in Hawaii"

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