Some of you may remember some brief prior rants against Megan's Law in the past. For those not familiar, Megan's Law was named for New Jersey resident Megan Kanka. She was 7 years old when a twice-convicted sex offender who lived near her home raped and killed her in 1994. One of the greatest accomplishments of this bill was to require that convicted sex offenders in America must register their home location with local municipalites. This allows for their home addresses to be posted publically for the community to know. New Jersey was among the first states to enact laws requiring community notification and sex offender registration.
My chief complaint with this bill has always been that it restricts privacy rights and has no regard for my profession which suggests that some sex offenders can rehabilitate. It also does not allow for the possibility that there was a breach of consent and now someone is on the hook for life. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying sex crimes are benign acts of evil. They certainly are not. However, there are other issues at play that may assist me with looking for a better way to address the issue of sexual abuse and mental illness in the communtiy. The most recent insult to injury is a recent report is that states are not following the expectations of Megan's Law.
More specifically, a study conducted at the University of New Jersey (WTF, Rutgers?!) examining sex offenses in the state where Megan's Law was created says it hasn't deterred repeat offenses. The report released last week cites evidence that registering sex offenders in New Jersey does make it easier to find offenders once they are accused of a sex crime. However, by comparing arrest rates before and after the sex offender registration law was passed, the study found no significant difference between statistics before and after Megan's Law was passed.
The study also compared sex offenders rates with violent crimes and drug offense rates in comparable time periods, and did not find any discrepency with sex offense rates post-Megan's law.
"Because sex offense rates began to decline well before the passage of Megan’s Law, the legislation itself cannot be the cause of the drop in general," said the report, "Megan’s Law: Assessing the Practical and Monetary Efficacy," prepared for the Department of Corrections' Research and Evaluation Unit. "It may, in fact, be the case that continuing reductions in sex offending in New Jersey, as well as across the nation, are a reflection of greater societal changes."
According to the authors, measures of recidivism rates, community tenure (the amount of time before a re-arrest), and harm reduction (decreased sexual offending), revealed no significant differences between cohorts.
"Despite wide community support for these laws, there is little evidence to date, including this study, to support a claim that Megan’s Law is effective in reducing either new first-time sex offenses or sexual re-offenses," the report states.
The report also said that, because it saw no discernible difference made by implementing Megan's Law, the cost of administrating the law (approximately $3.9 million in 2007) should be reexamined. "Given the lack of demonstrated effect of Megan’s Law, the researchers are hard-pressed to determine that the escalating costs are justifiable," they wrote.
Given the price tag, my bet is AG wins this one and we stop invading people's privacy because one neurotic helicopter Momma thinks it keeps her kid safe when in fact there is no proof of that. Remember, girls and women are least safest in their own homes!
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Oh The Pain! The Terrible Pain!
2 hours ago
The only reason I would ever argue to keep Megan's law is that the sex offender registry allowed me to find out that my sister's boyfriend is, in fact, a registered sex offender. So - as long as only people who may date my family or friends have to register, I'm cool with not violating anyone else's privacy.
ReplyDelete(Plus, you know in California that for years men convicted of 'sex crimes' in the early 70s had to register, even though those crimes were 'being gay'. That's totally lame.)
The thing is though, a registry cannot stop a man from dating your sister. So, in the end it fails at the heart of the matter.
ReplyDeleteThis was BP's point the other day -- it's not that I had the rape comments made to me; it's that this man has some real hatred for women underlying the problem.
It's too surface. Too much of a waste of time like putting alcoholics in jail for DUI. It doesn't deal with the mental illness component! It just makes others "feel safe."
You mean, like the security Kabuki at every airport in the country?
ReplyDeleteSecurity, in general, is not about actually ensuring safety, I think. It is about making most people FEEL safe enough that they aren't too afraid to go about their business, relying on the power of deterrence and the basic law-abiding proclivities of most people (within a parameter of acceptable deviance) to prevent most lawbreaking, and providing the resources to minimize damage from the undeterred.
Unfortuantely, Megan's Law isn't even good Security Kabuki - the public notice aspects make people MORE afraid, you've just cited research that suggests that it doesn't deter, and there's no such thing as minimizing the damage from an actual sex crime.
That said, one of the worst things we do in this country is saying that released criminals have "paid their debt to society." No they haven't. They pay for the rest of their lives, in prejudice, lost opportunities, and failed lives. The worst part is that we then place the criminals' debts on their kids' shoulders. Awesome. 'Cause that kid wasn't already starting the race of life half a lap behind.
Reid, will you schtup AG?!!
ReplyDeleteYou just tell me when and where, AG. I am at your service.
ReplyDeleteAre you Jewish, single, JD, MD, PhD because if you are -- AG will turn your knob any day, any way?
ReplyDeleteOh and, what are you getting your valentine?!
There's zero chance to get this law removed, though. You can make all the logical arguments but the emotional reaction will prevent it. No politician would stick his or her neck out for fear of looking like they were supporting sex offenders.
ReplyDeleteI disagree, Brando. Costs can make the argument more possibly if an alternative is better.
ReplyDeleteBut that's assuming people will think about this rationally, which almost never happens when discussing sex offenses.
ReplyDeleteI just think it's too easy for proponents to use emotional reactions to shoot down criticism or calls for revisions. After all, this is America we're talking about.
We've got an econ in the toliet right now, eyes are on a different prize right now.
ReplyDeleteNow is the time to go for crazy shit like the full passing of FOCA.
Thank you for your statistics, AG. I feel intuitively that there's something deeply wrong with Megan's laws around the country. I suppose you could argue that a released offender has "paid his debt," but if you are going to track him (these are 99.9% men) publicly and reveal his whereabouts no matter where he goes, you are sentencing him to a lifetime of hounding by superstitious villagers with torches and pitchforks. I'm with Brando on the essential unfairness of that. And let's not even start on proposals to surgically or chemically castrate offenders.
ReplyDeleteI think these laws stem from a bizarre obsession with sex. But if we are going to do such a thing, why stop there? If it's legal to maintain and reveal this kind of information, I'd like to know where the burglars and muggers are in my neighborhood, too, not to mention the dishonest car salesmen. And how long before somebody wants to map where the Jews live, too?
Society has a right...
Thanks, LJ. Happy to help. The problem is that the personal has become political and people don't know how to use the data.
ReplyDeleteI think ML has become a high tech lynching of sorts. Do I think we need to deal with sex offenders? Yes, but it's a mental health issue not a personality issue and location issue.
America has taken these people and whacked the victim. I really want to know how often people use this to protect their kids because honestly, good parents watch their kids and make good choices as best as they can. As such, this law does little for them because keeping your kids safe from a mental patient is not something most people have triaining in and it does not change that you can do it all right and still fail.
So, let's deal with the illness and find other effective ways to keep ourselves and families safe.
Me- I just want a hot Jew. We all gotta do what we got to do to stay safe.
Um,how come Reid ignores AG?
ReplyDeleteMust be a goy. Back to Snag's nest...even if he never comments here anymore. Seriously, even PP does!
Reid's been taking care of things he has to take care of.
ReplyDeleteCertainly not ignoring you.
Hot Jew J.D. - I think we can accomodate you.
OMG. Pick AG! Pick AG!
ReplyDeleteAG's Law: Hot Jewish men with MD/PhD/JD degrees must register their whereabouts and post sexy pictures.
ReplyDeleteBrando: that's going on my Facebook!!
ReplyDeleteI fucking love it. And now Reid if he would like an AG!
Where did Reid go?! AG would like to play cowgirl with him!
ReplyDeleteHe clearly wants AG by talking like AG in third person.
AG want! Oh does she want. AG worried he have Valentine.
AG would be sad if that were true.