August 28, 2014

Twenty years later, has Megan’s Law delivered?

8-28-2014 New Jersey:

It has been 20 years since New Jersey’s Legislature passed Megan’s Law. The two decades since have been filled with legal challenges and disappointment that the law didn’t accomplish what many thought it would. It’s what happens when politics and emotion team to shortcut the legislative process.

The law is named for Megan Kanka, who was raped and killed in 1994 when she was 7 after being lured into the home of a twice-convicted sex offender, Jesse Timmendequas, who lived across the street from the child.

Her parents, Maureen and Richard Kanka, lobbied the Legislature for a law to require registration of sex offenders; it was named after their daughter. It went into effect just months after her horrible death.

Typical of legislation rushed through, New Jersey’s version has been much challenged. Other states and the federal government took their time and did it better. In New Jersey, there is a back story involving Republican Garabed “Chuck” Haytaian, who was Assembly speaker and wanted to replace Frank Lautenberg in the U.S. Senate. His colleagues saw the law as an opportunity.

In his campaign ads, Haytaian bragged he “fast-tracked Megan’s Law.” Both houses of the Legislature were controlled by Republicans and so was the Governor’s Office. They wanted to see Lautenberg, a Democrat, beaten. Haytaian came within 3 percentage points of winning.

Emotion and political ambition are not a good combination for strong, effective legislation — the usual vetting and debate got lost. After its passage, Megan’s Law was tied up in court for years, mainly because of unforeseen problems. As much as we hate it, there is a reason the legislative process is slow and deliberate by design.

In 2009, a study by the state Department of Corrections and Rutgers University concluded Megan’s Law doesn’t deter sex offenders in New Jersey. The report says it makes it easier to find them because of registration, but you don’t need a report to tell us that. It also said the cost of carrying out the law — the report used $5.1 million, the cost in 2007 — may not be justified.

After Gov. Christie Whitman signed the bill into law, Maureen Kanka hit the road, talking to groups about the dangers of pedophiles, and then worked in a foundation named for her daughter that used federal grant money to do background checks on volunteers who work with children. That money has dried up. The house where the crime occurred was razed and the lot is now a park named for the child. Timmendequas is serving a life sentence without a chance of parole.

The debate about Megan’s Law’s usefulness remains active.

Fletcher Duddy, an attorney in the state’s public defender’s office, told the Star-Ledger the law is “the product of good intentions” but does more harm than good. “Megan’s Law is just putting a scarlet letter on someone, making them a pariah in modern-day society so they can’t function in that society. It really has a counterproductive effect.”

“Are there problems with the way it’s implemented in places? Yes,” former Gov. Whitman told the paper. “Do we have to carefully remind parents to know where their children are and to watch? Yes. But this is one instance where it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

The Department of Corrections says about 7,000 people have registered under Megan’s Law in New Jersey and another 2,600 will have to when released from prison.

Nowadays, when asked about success in cutting down on child molestation, Megan’s Law defenders are quick to point out that the purpose was not to end child abuse, but to give communities information about where convicted sex offenders reside so they can protect themselves and the children in the neighborhood.

That’s what the much-challenged law does. But that wasn’t the impression of its intent given by supporters when it was rushed through. The public was allowed to be misled into thinking it would do more. Had lawmakers taken enough time, they might have created legislation that stood the test of time and afforded people a realistic understanding of what it could accomplish. Much more needs to be done.

There have been other laws named for individuals, and it seems that many are flawed. Laws should be about achieving a clearly stated goal, not as a memorial, or fuel for someone’s political career. ..Source.. by Bob Ingle

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