Sex Offender Registration and Megan’s Laws

With an increased concern for the safety of children in neighborhoods and around schools, all states have passed "Megan's Laws" to create sex offender registries. Megan Kanka was a seven year old who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a repeated violent sex offender named Jesse Timmendequas. Timmendequas lived across the street from Kanka and was placed on death row in New Jersey following Megan's death. In December 2007, New Jersey abolished the death penalty and Timmendequas now serves a life sentence without parole. The first Megan's Law was passed by New Jersey in 1994 to alert parents to the whereabouts of sex offenders in their area. Each state decides what information to make available in these registries and how to disseminate the information. Many provide the public with photos, names, addresses, crimes and incarceration dates of offenders. Read more