History
Prior to 1994 only five states required convicted sex offenders to register
their addresses with local law enforcement. As recognition of the severity
of this problem grew, Congress passed the Jacob Wetterling Crimes
Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Act, 42 U.S.C.
§§14071, et seq. (“Wetterling Act”). This requires state implementation of a
sex-offender registration program or a 10 percent forfeiture of federal
funds for state and local law enforcement under the Byrne Grant Program of
the U.S. Department of Justice. Today, all fifty states have sex offender
registries.
The realization registration alone was not enough came after
the tragic murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka by a released sex offender
living on her street. The public outcry created a call for programs to
provide the public with information regarding released sex offenders. In
1996 Congress passed a federal law mandating state community notification
programs. Megan’s Law, section (e) of the Wetterling Act,
requires all states to conduct community notification but does not set out
specific forms and methods, other than requiring the creation of internet
sites containing state sex-offender information. Beyond that requirement,
states are given broad discretion in creating their own policies.
The Challenge
There are currently over 600,000 registered sex offenders in the United
States. Sex offenders pose an enormous challenge for policy makers: they
evoke unparalleled fear among constituents; their offenses are associated
with a great risk of psychological harm; and most of their victims are
children and youth. As policy makers address the issue of sex offenders,
they are confronted with some basic realities
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Most sex offenders are not in prison, and those who are
tend to serve limited sentences
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Most sex offenders are largely unknown to people in the
community
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Some sex offenders have a high risk of re-offending
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While community supervision and oversight is widely
recognized as essential, the system for providing such supervision is
overwhelmed
Loopholes in Current State Programs
The increased mobility of our society has led to “lost” sex
offenders, those who fail to comply with registration duties yet remain
undetected due to law enforcement’s inability to track their whereabouts. A
conservative estimate of the number of “lost” sex offenders is at least
100,000 nationwide. The wide disparity among the state programs in both
registration and notification procedures permits sex offenders to
“forum-shop,” research which states have the least stringent laws, in order
to live in communities with relative anonymity.
Recommendations
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There is a clear need for more consistency and uniformity
among state programs for sex offender registration and community
notification.
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There should be more funding to assist states in
maintaining and improving these programs.
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New technology should be developed for tracking offenders
and improving communication between and among various agencies (law
enforcement, corrections, courts and probation).