Egans Law The purpose of Megans Law is to let the public know when a convicted sex offender is released into their community. Mr. Michael Chertoff, a former U.S. attorney has a curious question for our states corrections department. “How can members of the public be informed when dangerous predators have been released into their community, if the prosecutors, who are supposed to notify the public, have not been told either?” Mr. Chertoff did investigate this and found out that this isn’t just a small problem anymore. Take the Alves case for example. Raymond Alves, a convicted rapist was in jail for twenty-three years and was let out unannounced. Prosecutors were told days after the fact and were not ale to find him because he gave out false information about where he was living. Megans Law requires prosecutors to be notified thirty days or more ahead of time so they have sufficient time to file a challenge, or to see if he’s a threat to society. At a senate hearing, Jack Terhune, a corrections commissioner said he has not found any other case besides the Alves case where the prosecutors were not properly notified ahead of time. Meanwhile, they were getting a whole different story from Mr. Chertoff, who asked twenty one county prosecutors if they have been getting their proper Megans Law notifications on time. The prosecutors answer was between January 1, 1999 and March 1, 2000, they have received one hundred and fifty Megans Law notifications less than thirty days prior to an inmate being let out. More than ninety of those came less than seven days before the release or after. Chris Carden, a spokesperson for the corrections department made a comment that the numbers did not match up and said “ that’s a far cry from saying there have been no other cases of improper notification. In the stir of the Alves mess, Mr. Terhune did take action and fired eight of his employees for errors, including two psychologists. Terhune is also making new rules like better training for all employees that come in so that this problem will not happen again. They also have a new web page up for the prosecutors to find out when any sex offenders are released in the area so that there is no question in anyone’s mind. In my opinion I believe in Megans Law 100%.
When a parent hold his/her child for the first, one of the things a parent does is make a silent promise to this child that they do whatever they can to protect this life they have in their hands. Unfortunately, there comes a time, when a parents cans no longer able to be around to protect their children 24 hours a day. This is the time parents have to dreaded talk almost like taking away a part of their children’s innocents because they have to discuss about the “bad people” in the world. How sometimes these people are not stranger but someone who maybe someone they have come trust and love. This is evident ever time you turn on the TV, there is news report discussing the molestation of a child by a teacher, coach or even a priest. One of the ways law enforcements try to keep our children safe was by enacting the Meagan’s Law. Meagan’s Law was created after a 7 year old girl, named Meagan Kanka, who was lured away by a neighbor with a promise of puppy inside his house, where he suffocated and strangled her. Her body was stuff into a toy chest and dumped in a near by park. Meagan’s killer was a two-timed sex offender living with other sex offenders he met in prison, right across the street. This incident caused the federal government mandate all sex offender to register their location with police and their information to be made public and placed onto sex offender registry. On the surface, the sex offender registry seems like the perfect solution needed to protect our children, but with closer examination, the sex offender registry falls short.
The following research will display an overview of the process in Texas on how sex offenders are registered along with the notifications that are followed after registration. Texas, as many other states, has a procedure which requires sex offenders to register with the local law enforcement agencies at the time of their discharge. In addition to registration, they must also comply with further probation regulations. Research has concluded that there are four basic phases of registration and notification. Beginning with offender notified, following the offender registration and community notified and ending with public notification
In the event that a prisoner (particularly a sex offender) does complete rehabilitation, he carries with him a stigma upon reentering society. People often fear living near a prior drug addict or convicted murderer and the sensational media hype surrounding released felons can ruin a newly released convict’s life before it beings. What with resident notifications, media scare tactics and general concern for safety, a sex offender’s ability to readapt into society is severely hindered (554). This warrants life-skills rehabilitation applied to him useless, as he will be unable to even attempt to make the right decision regarding further crime opportunities.
It is estimated that approximately 3% of the offenders who are currently incarcerated will likely commit another sexual-related crime upon release (Park & Lee, 2013, p. 26). There are several laws that have been in place regarding sexual offenses for decades, including Megan’s Law, which was enacted in 1996. The federal Megan’s Law establishes three specific conditions. The first condition required information from state sex offender registries to be distributed publicly so that all community citizens have access to it. The second condition requires any information collected by registration programs within the state to be released for any reason given that it is allowed under the state law.
It is typically thought that sex offenders are the type of individual that needs to be tried in our courts and then sentenced because there is really no hope for an individual that harms the most innocent of our society. But there just may be an exception to this way of thinking. Juveniles who at one point themselves may have been victims, and as they have grown into adolescence not knowing why they are thinking the way they are, turn around and abuse others. Then what happens is that these adolescents once found out, are then tried in our courts as adults because in the mind of the court they are committing an adult crime. But there are alternatives for these juveniles that are being placed in our court system. Because at this stage in their development they are more receptive to treatment options and there are treatments available with valid research to substantiate them. Our judicial system just needs to recognize these options in order to try to lessen the amount of trauma inflicted on these already potentially traumatized individuals.
An offender could give a false address, name, etc.. again, this was one of the main flaws with regard to the Petiquan case, which is not the only kind of it’s nature. Lastly, any offenders convicted previous to 2004, are not registered with the database, there are literally thousands of sex offenders from before 2004 that are living free and unregistered.
Sex offender legislation has been encouraged and written to protect the community and the people at large against recidivism and or to help with the reintegration of those released from prison. Nevertheless, a big question has occurred as to if the tough laws created help the community especially to prevent recidivism or make the situation even worse than it already is. Sex offenders are categorized into three levels for example in the case of the state of Massachusetts; in level one the person is not considered dangerous, and chances of him repeating a sexual offense are low thus his details are not made available to the public (Robbers, 2009). In level two chances of reoccurrence are average thus public have access to this level offenders through local police departments in level three risk of reoffense is high, and a substantial public safety interest is served to protect the public from such individuals.
Although they may be out of jail, they cannot be considered free. They are unable to make their own decisions: where they can work, where they can live, and how they can live their lives are all under control of the government. These people look the same as everyone else, but underneath the mask, lay a title they cannot shake. These people are sex offenders. A sex offender is defined as anyone who has committed a sexual crime. These crimes range from serious crimes, like rape, to minor offenses, such as urinating in public, or under age consensual sex. All sex offenders are placed on the registry and are required to follow a careful protocol. Registered sex offenders are paired with a Community Corrections Officer (CCO) who oversees and supervises the offender's actions. Many restrictions are placed on the offender, and although the laws can vary from state to state, there are some basic restrictions that apply to every offender. Some of these restrictions include: a sex offender cannot move without the permission and approval of their CCO, they can only live and work in certain areas, they cannot own any firearms, their personal computers are monitored and controlled by their CCO (many websites are blocked, including pornographic content), they are not allowed to take or consume any mind altering substances such as drugs or even alcohol, and they are required to get regular counseling (“Rules”). Currently there are 747,408 registered sex offenders in the United States. Some states such as Delaware and Oregon have a higher concentration of sex offenders (500 per 100,000) where as Pennsylvania has the lowest concentration of sex offenders (94 per 100,000) (“Sex Offender Statistics”). Due to the inefficiencies ...
In today’s society, juveniles that commit a sexual assault have become the subject of society. It’s become a problem in the United States due to the rise of sexual offenses committed by juveniles. The general public attitude towards sex offenders appears to be highly negative (Valliant, Furac, & Antonowicz, 1994). The public reactions in the past years have shaped policy on legal approaches to managing sexual offenses. The policies have included severe sentencing laws, sex offender registry, and civil commitment as a sexually violent predator (Quinn, Forsyth, & Mullen-Quinn, 2004). This is despite recidivism data suggesting that a relatively small group of juvenile offenders commit repeat sexual assaults after a response to their sexual offending (Righthand &Welch, 2004).
They felt that they should have been told that this sex offender lived within their neighborhood. " The real issue isn’t that the people of Hamilton Township were denied information on this sex offender, but why was this man released after only six...
Sexual Abuse has gained an outrageous amount of attention as it quickly inclines to the top concerns of the prison system. Officials have been severely struggling as surveys display the number of sexual assaults with no regard of the person’s age, gender, or race. Officers and other staffs have been engaging in sexual activities with inmates undermining the rules and regulation of the system, and ignoring the oath taken prior to becoming an officer. Inmates have been raped, had affairs, become pregnant and deeply involved with the staff of the prison. As a result of the struggles, officials generated the PREA Act, a policy that was put in place to help prosecute and punish officers who engaged in such behavior.
Thousands of sex abuse cases with children are disclosed in the U.S. every year. The actual amount of young people that are raped and molested is even higher. But as laws change frequently, it’s still a mystery on how to treat sex offenders to prevent such crimes. “Sex offender programs/strategies represent various approaches used to prevent convicted sex offenders from committing future sex offenses. These approaches include different types of therapy, community notification, and standardized assessments (CSOM).” Most programs are held in prison and/or in the community to manage sex offenders (Olver). Approaches that can help prevent these crimes are, the cognitive-behavioral approach, which focuses on changing the thinking patterns related to sexual assaulting and also altering evil ways of sexual behavior. The psycho-educational approach is another approach, which focuses on increasing offenders' empathy for the victim while also teaching them to take responsibility for their sexual offenses. Standardized assessment tools are also highly effective, ultimately used to increase the likelihood of treatment efficacy and/or to identify individuals at high risk of reoffending. With these approaches, “it is important to include all partners who may be involved in the management of sex offenders such as law enforcement, corrections, victims’ organizations, treatment programs, courts, prosecutors and other stakeholders. These partners can provide valuable information in assessing the effectiveness and efficacy of sex offender programs and strategies (O’Donnell).”
An estimation of 60 percent of the 234,000 convicted is under community corrections supervision. These numbers paint the picture of how important community supervision is, along with the need for adequate preparation in which probation and parole officers will need in their roles as sex offender “monitors”. This type of work can be taxing on the official in which some have suffered from psychological trauma and stress, which means one health, must be maintained in this line of work. Being able to recognize the real need for a support system (Harr & Hess, p. 236), is...
The sex offender topic has always been a really huge problem throughout the years to the point that it has gotten worst. The main problem is that young kids are getting affected by it as to engaging in sexual behavior with younger kids and committing sexual acts they should not be doing. It is a very difficult topic to talk about they are just kids that have probably gotten abused or seen sexual behavior that they should have not seen in person and now are doing it to others. The article, “How can you distinguish a budding pedophile from a kid with real boundaries problems” by Maggie Jones talks about young children engaging in sexual behavior with other kids who are younger than them. The article also discusses that once children engage in
Martin, R. (1996). Pursuing Public Protection Through Mandatory Community Notification of Convicted Sex Offenders: The Trials and Tribulations of Megan's Law. The Boston Public Interest Law Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 29