Public Eye Archives

Megan's Law

In late July of 1994, seven-year-old Megan Kanka,
of Hamilton, New Jersey, was raped and murdered by Jesse Timmendequas,
a convicted sex-offender who lived across the street. After his arrest,
Megan's parents were outraged to discover that although the authorities had known about
this dangerous sex offender living on their block, they had not notified the
community.

In late 1994, public outrage led the state of New Jersey
to
enact Megan's Law -which
requires police agencies to notify communities when high-risk offenders
move into their neighborhoods.

In 1996, President Clinton signed a federal version of the law,
withholding federal crime-control funds from states that do not
enact similar statutes. Thus far, 45 states have complied, but
in over half of these states such laws are being challenged.
Offenders claim they have served their debt to society and the
law is a second sentence; a violation of their privacy and an
inspiration for vigilante justice.

To get a better idea of how your state has dealt with Megan's
Law, click on our Map.

To find out more about the case, and to read the text
of the law itself, click on Megan's Law.