Is Megan’s Law working?

12-9-2007 Pennsylvania:

Megan's Law, designed to notify the public about sex offenders living in their midst, has proved to be immensely popular.

In surveys, most people say they want to know if a convicted sex offender is living near them. Many law enforcement officials believe the law is keeping communities safer.

But few studies have been done on the topic. Some say the law only serves to ostracize and isolate ex-convicts, leading them back into trouble and making communities less safe.

One Lancaster County man says the law which trumpets his name over the Internet is partly to blame for his return to jail, because it isolated him, even after he had paid his debt to society. He is back in jail not for another sex crime but because he broke parole by drinking.

In 1995, the man was charged with sexually assaulting a woman in East Pennsboro Twp. at gunpoint, according to court documents.

The man pleaded no contest to unlawful restraint and attempted aggravated indecent assault and served seven years in prison. Since then, he said in written comments, he has been in therapy and has not offended again. He communicated with The Patriot-News on the condition that his name not be used, saying he wants to protect his family.

He argues that Megan's Law makes communities less safe, not more. Public access "drives the offender back into the very shadows that are a part of the offending behavior ... causing them to "deteriorate mentally, emotionally and spiritually," he wrote.

Law enforcement officials and advocates for crime victims express little sympathy. Capt. Janet McNeal, former Megan's Law coordinator for the Pennsylvania State Police, says the law "prevents a lot of victimization." Jennifer Storm, director of the Victims Advocate office for Dauphin County, calls it "an excellent law" and says she believes "the more informed the public is, the safer we are."

Nils Fredericksen, spokesman for state Attorney General Tom Corbett, says the system is "doing what lawmakers intended" and should be "upgraded and expanded."

But a 2007 study in New Jersey showed sex attacks on children were declining even before the law took effect. According to the study's consultant, Philip Witt, "We don't know whether Megan's Laws really work ... I believe they have very little effect."

Many states and municipalities restrict where former sexual offenders can live, but a 2004 Colorado study seems to show those restrictions have no effect. The Georgia Supreme Court recently overturned the state's law, which was one of the most stringent.

Studies by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy are inconclusive, director Roxanne Lieb says. A 2005 study seemed to show a slight reduction in the rates of re-offending since community notification started, but the change was not statistically significant.

People on the list "might feel more alienated, but they are also more scrutinized," she says. "How do those balance?"

According to the Lancaster man's girlfriend, he lost his job after someone saw his name on the Web site.

When he gets out of prison, he can't live with her because her child is a minor. He says he was refused treatment for alcoholism by 12 government-funded programs because of his record. Some offenders are refused enrollment at colleges or denied membership in churches, he says.

"In treatment, prior offenders are taught to establish critical foundations, including solid employment, stable homes, positive family relationships and strong support networks," he wrote. People who are ostracized and isolated will become increasingly anti-social and "will strike out at society."

A 2005 Florida study showed that 27 percent of released offenders lost their jobs, 20 percent were forced from their homes and 38 percent were threatened by neighbors. Florida also showed a rapid rise in offenders who were refusing to register.

A 2007 report by the Human Rights Watch said many sexual offender laws violate the rights of people who pose little risk.

"These are laws that weren't based on reason -- they were based on a few horrific cases," director Jamie Fellner says.

While sexual offenders' photographs, addresses and vehicular and other personal information appear on the Megan's Law Web site, there is no similar list for murderers or drug dealers. It is partly because sexual offenders have a reputation for being incorrigible.

"Sex offenders as a whole say the impulse is beyond their control," Lebanon County District Attorney Dave Arnold said. "If that's the case, people should know if they're living nearby to protect their children. Sex offenders tend to repeat."

Storm said sexual offenders "have a compulsion, which is why you have such a high rate of recidivism."

Statistics, however, don't bear this out. Taken as a whole, people charged with any kind of sexual crime have less than a 5 percent chance of another conviction within three years, according to a 2003 study by the U.S. Department of Justice. Convicted child molesters who have served time in prison have a 13 percent reconviction rate within five years and convicted rapists have a 19 percent rate.

In contrast, of more than 100,000 people imprisoned for nonsex crimes, 63 percent were arrested again within three years, and 41 percent were sent back to prison.

A Tennessee study following sex offenders released from prison in 2001 for three years showed that 28 percent were recommitted to the prison system within three years, compared to 52 percent of other felons.

The Iowa Department of Human Rights looked at 60 studies and found that sex offenders were half as likely as other felons to end up back in prison.

Critics of the studies say it might be because sexual crimes are underreported.

Certain offenders with personality disorders are more likely to repeat. According to studies, it seems that men who prey on boys are particularly apt to do so again. So are people with long rap sheets, whether the offenses were sexual in nature or not, particularly if some of the crimes were violent.

People in committed relationships and in therapy are the least likely to end up back in prison.

Ranking offenders:

In Pennsylvania, the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board is charged with evaluating everyone accused of a sex crime to determine the risk to society. Those determined to have personality defects that make them most likely to repeat are called sexually violent predators. Of the 9,433 offenders on Pennsylvania's Megan's Law Web site, 204 are sexually violent predators.

Michael Fernsler of Annville, a former police officer who sometimes performed as Chuckles the Clown, is the type of sexually violent predator Storm calls "scary and creepy."

While out on bail awaiting sentencing for sexually abusing two 4-year-old girls, he was charged Nov. 13 with threatening a 14-year-old North Londonderry Twp. girl at knife-point, leading her into the woods, binding her mouth and hands, and attempting to rape her.

Only about 2 percent of those listed on the Web site are designated sexually violent predators. Others have been convicted of offenses ranging from rape to indecent assault, and most offenses do not involve children.

Lauren Taylor, director of the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, says about 90 percent of sex crimes are committed by people not listed on the site, and most are committed by people known to the victim. The Web site could give people a false sense of security, she says. She says she would like to see "good policy, not just a knee-jerk reaction to the words 'sexual offender.'"

Of the 93 Internet predators charged by the state attorney general's office in the past two years, none was on the Megan's Law Web site.

A recent audit of Pennsylvania's law suggests putting offenders on a three-tier system based on their risk to society. Washington state already does that, and all states will have to do so under the national Adam Walsh act.

A Washington state study showed only about 3 percent of those on the lower tier were convicted again within three years.

"While certain categories have very high rates, it's a small subgroup," said William DiMascio, director of the Pennsylvania Prison Society.

Sheila Moore, deputy press secretary for the state Department of Corrections, said treatment programs for sex offenders "have come a long way in the past two or three years" and can lessen the risk of re-offending.

Convicted sex offenders must complete a treatment program based on cognitive behavioral therapy to be eligible for parole, continue in support groups after their release and submit to annual polygraph tests.

The Lancaster County man says he has "witnessed the positive impact that treatment does have in eliminating the potential for re-offending."

"No prior sex offender should ever be permitted to re-enter society untreated," he says, and if they refuse, they should be committed to mental institutions on their release.

T.W. Ponessi &Associates in Harrisburg provides therapy to more than 400 sexual offenders in prison. Gerald Menaquale, director of Ponessi's sexual offender program, says stress and hopelessness can lead to "a lot of self-destructive behavior."

He said he believes the Megan's Law Web site "is there for a good reason," however.

"My stance with the guys is that they put themselves in this position," he says. "Part of their restitution is they have to spend significant time learning to cope with these stressors."

A Lebanon County man raped a woman 20 years ago during a robbery in Lehigh County while he was high on drugs. He says from prison that he wishes he could go back and "change the things I've done."

Since then, he says, he has come clean and worked hard through counseling to turn his life around. He married two years ago, and his wife calls him "the love of my life." She says he is a good father to her children, but public access to the registry "is like kicking a dog every day."

"No matter what I did, it was not good enough," the Lebanon County man says. "I went through treatment for years, set goals, had dreams, but I felt like I was fighting a losing battle. To isolate and shun people won't help them. I feel scared that the Web site is putting my life and my family's lives in jeopardy without making a difference." ..more.. by MONICA VON DOBENECK: 832-2090 or mdobeneck@patriot-news.com

THE IMPACT OF MEGAN'S LAW

The public wants to know when sex offenders live nearby, but IS IT WORKING?