Notification Laws

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the issue of habitual sex offenders and what to do with them when they are released from prison in order to protect the community. It provides arguments for and against laws such as Megan's Law (named for a year-old girl named Megan Kanka, sexually assaulted and killed by a known pedophile that was her neighbor), which allow notification to the community of known sex offenders living in the neighborhood. It argues how although these laws may seem appealing, they raise numerous issues of privacy which, while applying only to sex offenders today, could apply to others tomorrow. They also carry the potential for adverse community action outside the law and can prevent any chance of real rehabilitation.

From the Paper:

"Once the federal government passed its version of this law, the idea spread and was taken up by states across the country. The federal statute called on states to enact registration and notification laws by September 1997 or lose part of their federal law enforcement funds. In effect, this imposed the idea of a Megan's Law on all states, since none wants to lose this funding. The last of the states to do so was New Mexico, which missed the deadline but which had a law pending in 1998. These laws have been popular, and one poll showed that 89 percent of adults favored such laws. Observers note that these laws are flawed, for they vary greatly between states because Congress did not specify "how, how much, or to whom states must release registration information" (Johnson 9)."

More papers on Notification Laws:

• Term Paper # 131520 : "Sexual Predators and Community Notification Laws"
• Persuasive Essay # 101466 : "Community Notification Laws"
• Essay # 12294 : "Public Notification of Sexual Offender Release"

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