Preview

Offender

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
990 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Offender
This paper is a personal opinion on the judicial aspects of how the U.S government and we as a society look at and keep up with people who want to, try to, or feel the urge to harm our children. It contains opinions and facts related to this subject only. |

It is often surprising and disturbing that we, as a people, have come to a point where the protection and safety of society has come down to a “list”. We are always faced with list in life. There’s the grocery list, to do list, the honey-do list and even a list of the dreaded chores. But, to this day, no list is more important or more scrutinized for its information then the register for sexual offenders list. This list contains names and other important information about the people on this list. What we learn from it and we take the time to learn what establishes the qualifications to be on it, it’s clear why we have it. The sexual offenders list was created so that we as a society could have access to the where about of people who may be a danger to kids and families. It is this information that has sparked a huge controversy in our country and threw out the world. Some say this list invades privacy and promotes vigilante like mentality. Other, like I, believe it is a necessary evil that requires constant updating and checking to ensure this is accurate information. Megan’s law is named after Megan Nicole Kanka. A seven year old girl in New Jersey who on July 29, 1994, was lured into a house with the promise of seeing a puppy but instead was brutally raped and murdered by a man who had been convicted in 1981 of an attack on a five year old child and attempted sexual assault on a seven year old. Megan’s law, first passed in New Jersey, and signed in December of 1994, made specific mandates for active community notifications which ensure that the community will be made aware of the presence of convicted sex offenders that may impose a threat to public safety. As well as

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Megan's Law

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Menendez, B. (1998). The Constitutional Implications of Megan 's Laws: Permissible Regulations or Unconstitutional Intrusions. New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, 24, 249-278.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Secrecy And Openness

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The sex offender registry is an excellent example of how civilians can use openness of society to stay out of harms way. Citizens can keep themselves, their families, and friends safe by staying informed with the help of tools like the sex offender registry. Since sex offenders are required to register and provide certain information like name, age, address, offense, etc.…

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Many states have adopted sexual predator statutes which provide for incarceration, institutionalization, treatment, and registration for individuals convicted of specific sex crimes (Roberson and Wallace, 2008). The need for convicting sexual predators has become a top priority for lawmakers across the nation as society has determined that sexually related offenses are deviant behavior and simply will not be tolerated. Sexually related offenses such as rape, child molestation, and pedophilia are considered to be especially heinous offenses and tend to bring about disgust and rage from within our society. In response to such offenses, lawmakers across the nation, along with the assistance of law enforcement and its citizens, have made life very uncomfortable for sexual predators. Specifically, lawmakers have created new laws which restrict the freedoms of sexual predators and that inflict harsher punishments for those convicted of sex crimes.…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The issue of registering known sex offenders is extremely controversial. Some will say that the public has a right to know the living places of sex offenders for the protection of themselves, their children, and other loved ones. Others will say that it is an invasion of privacy. However, some will ask, “Is it necessary to go as far as to give pictures, middle names, and the charge with which the sex offender was convicted of? Isn’t the address enough?” All people are different and will always have different opinions on issues such as these.…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First, publically displaying convicted sex offender’s names cause unnecessary anxiety, not only to the offender, but also to the public. Citizens in society often feel more anxious knowing that there is a convicted sex offender residing in the vicinity around them. Most often citizens do not know the specifics of the crime the offender has been charged with. Offenders can have their name put on the registry list for something as undemanding as mooning. With the citizens not knowing the circumstances they are panic stricken for no legitimate reason. “As sex offender registration and public notification laws begin to identify an increasing number of offenders, these laws will create increasing levels of panic and possibly may begin to terrorize communities” (Freeman-Longo, 2000, p. 8).…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is an example of how an ex-felon liberty is limited upon their release from prison. The ex-child molester may not like the idea of having their name put online because they would face an enormous amount of discrimination but such legislation has been declared constitutional since it serves to protect vulnerable civilians (children). Whether or not sex-registry laws need reformation is neither here or there. The main argument is that sex-registry laws have an intrinsic value in aiding the safety of children near an ex-child molester. However, what benefit is there in preventing ex-felons from voting. There is absolutely no correlation in preventing ex-offenders from voting with preventing ex-felons from committing crime. If such legislation did prevent ex-felons from committing crime then there would be some sort of justification. So where does the intrinsic value lie in legislation that prevents ex-felons from…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Megan's Law Research Paper

    • 2581 Words
    • 11 Pages

    " Why notification only about Sex crime offenders why not murderers and robbers" was a question asked by a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union. Other criminals are just as dangerous as Sex crime offenders, why should only Sex crime offenders be subjected to discrimination ( Jerome 2 )? " Others debate that Megan's Law is ethical, there most definitely is a better sense of security especially because Sex crime offenders get scared off by the Law, and communities will become safer places to live ( Mader 1 )." The critics of Megan's Law are not in favor of letting sex crime offenders off the hook, but would rather see other approaches in reducing sex crimes ( Jerome 2). When looking at Megan's Law from the perspective of the sex crime offender, it is obvious that their lives will never be the same. One judge added, " This law would prevent offenders who had served time in jail from ever returning to a normal , private, law abiding life ( Mader 2)." Community notification scares sex crime offenders to death. Detective Casey Johnson of King County Police Department stated, " Offenders call me at all the time and ask where to go, where there are no notification…

    • 2581 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Megan's Law

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages

    must register online. A person who just served his or her time in prison should not…

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sex Offender Registry Laws

    • 1612 Words
    • 7 Pages

    You could say the registry began with three small town Minnesota boys riding their bikes to a convenience store in October 1989. As they walked home on the dark road that night, a man stepped out of the darkness holding a gun. He told one of the boys to lie face down on the ground, and instructed the other 2 to run into the woods and never look back. Despite countless efforts to locate the child, 11 year old Jacob Wetterling was never heard from again. It was this incident that caused President Bill Clinton to form a bill in 1995 that would keep track of all sex offenders. The Jacob Wetterling act required states to create sex offender registries accessible to police to help keep track of people who commit sex crimes, though at the time this information was not available to the public.That same year, 7 year old Megan Kanka was lured across, raped and murdered by a twice convicted pedophile that lived across the street. Megan’s parents constantly told the media that if they knew a sex offender lived across the street, they could have better protected…

    • 1612 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cjs/430 Criminology

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Megan’s Law is named after a little girl slain by her new neighbor, a habitual child molester. It mandates that community residents be notified of the arrival of foreraly incarcerated sex offenders, so that parents can take measures to better shield their children from potentially dangerous strangers.…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Men and women can both sexually abuse someone. Sometimes when your walking by someone you never really think to yourself that the person you just walked by can actually be a sex offender. Sex offenders names are already public but the reason i am for it is because then people actually can try to prevent it by taking there time and looking through the list of sex offenders and what the person did, who is actually by them and live close to them. Both genders can still be harmful, or even harmed. This whole topic and situation is just scary to picture and talk about but personally it needs to be out there, and the sex offenders website for your state needs to be always updated. When your a child you never think that someone can actually do something that harmful for you and it is just sad. Any person has a right to know so that they actually have a chance to protect themselves. Thats one of the reasons why i think that sex offenders name should be…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Chemical Castration

    • 1702 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their crimes (Oakes 99). This presents a problem for the public, as potential victims, and the legal system which is entrusted by the public for protection. It would be irresponsible for the legal system to ignore the criminal class of sex offenders, for they are subject to a recurring physiological urge that requires the use of effective restraints that would curb the habitual repetition of episodes producing the harmful consequences to the public (Schopf 95). Both surgical and chemical castrations are techniques used in various forms in this country and abroad with success. However, both forms of castrations have not come about without criticism on constitutional grounds. Any criticism should take into account the extraordinary recidivism rates found only in the criminal class of the sex offender. A more recent study, published in the same journal, by Looman et al in 2000 suggests the opposite. Of the released sex offenders they studied they found a 23.6 percent recidivism rate for those treated while a 51.7 percent rate for the untreated group. They also conducted an analysis separately on the outcome for men who had previous sexual convictions. Those with no previous sexual offense convictions had a 20.9 percent recidivism rate of the treated men compared to 42.9 percent of the untreated men. Of the men with previous sexual offenses, 26.1 percent of the treated group sexually reoffended compared to 73.1 percent of the untreated men. According to this study, treatment is invaluable in minimizing the recidivism of sex offenders with previous…

    • 1702 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Robertiello, G. and Terry, K.J. (2007) Can we profile sex offenders? A review of sex offender typologies. Aggression and Violent Behavior12 (5), 508-518.…

    • 2503 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Vess, J. (2008). Sex offender risk assessment: Consideration of human rights in community protection legislation. Retrieved on May 12, 2012, from Legal & Criminological Psychology [Serial Online], 13(2), 245-256.…

    • 2524 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sexual victimization and sexual offending cuts across a wide area of disciplines, So the response to this menace has to also cut across a reasonable range of disciplines and agencies in a given area. Facts say that good management of sex offenders is not just looking over them and treating them. It needs all aspects including investigation, adjudication, sentencing, and many others. It also needs full commitment and collaboration of the stakeholders.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays