In Tennessee, Megan’s Law is formally known as the "Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification and Tracking Act of 2004." Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) § 40-39-201(TN.Gov, 2014).
Based on the criteria outlined in the reading assignment on pages 96-97, I would say that Megan’s Law is “good” law in respect to meeting the characteristics outlined, however, I question if it is a “good” law for reducing the sex crimes. Megan’s Law is instituted at or after sentencing and becomes a mandatory condition of release once the offender has served his/her sentence (TN.Gov, 2014). TCA 40-39-201 specifies what acts constitute sexual assault, violent sexual assault, and how it applies to adult and juvenile offenders
In July of 1994, a little girl named, Megan Kanka, was raped and strangled. They found her body near her home in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. The story of thing young girl has shocked the nation. The man responsible for this brutal act is named, Jesse Timmendequas. He had been convicted twice prior to this attack.
The following research will display an overview of the process in Texas on how sex offenders are registered along with the notifications that are followed after registration. Texas, as many other states, has a procedure which requires sex offenders to register with the local law enforcement agencies at the time of their discharge. In addition to registration, they must also comply with further probation regulations. Research has concluded that there are four basic phases of registration and notification. Beginning with offender notified, following the offender registration and community notified and ending with public notification
The Casey Anthony case was one that captured the heart of thousands and made it to the headline of national TV talk shows, newspapers, radio stations and social media networks for months. The root of the case was due to a clash between the parental responsibilities, the expectations that went with being a parent, and the life that Casey Anthony wanted to have. The case was in respect to the discovering the cause of Casey’s two-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony’s, death; however the emphasis was placed on Casey and her futile lies, which resulted in a public outcry. The purpose of this essay is to delve into the public atmosphere and inquire about why the media and social media collectively attacked the case by uncovering the content of the case, the charges that were laid, and later dismissed, the “performers” of the trial and the publics reaction. It will further discuss how it defies universal ideologies and how the media represents this. The discussion of the complexities of the case and its connotations will incorporate Stuart Hall’s Representation and the Media, Robert Hariman’s Performing the Laws, What is Ideology by Terry Eagleton, The Body of the Condemned by Michael Foucault, and a number of news articles, which will reveal disparate ideas of representation in the media, and the role of the performers of the law and their effect on the understanding of the case.
Saunders states that Rape Shield laws are in place to protect victims of sexual assaults and rapes during a criminal trial. They prevent defendants to bring fourth evidence of the victim’s sexual history, orientation or past relationships (Saunders, 2014). Rape can be a very emotional and embarrassing ordeal; it’s very private and personal and can be hard to deal with for years to come. As with many victims of crime especially sexual offenses there are advantages and disadvantages to each new law that is implemented. This paper is designed to analyze the advantages and disadvantage of the Rape Shield Laws.
...ing further sex offenses should be allowed (554). It is too dangerous to risk potential victims so that the offender may complete his rehabilitation program by assaulting a person a few additional times.
Successes and Failures of Sexual Offences Act 2003 The Sexual Offences Act 2003 was heralded as a response to shifting social attitudes, encompassing the broad libertarian approach towards sexual behaviour that has become increasingly dominant since the Act that preceded it whilst attempting to account for the myriad of more widespread sexual deviancies and abusive practices that were otherwise poorly regulated by existing statute. It was designed as a regularisation of the law on sexual offences giving a modern and consistent perspective upon the particular offences; one that would allow the courts to proceed on a fairer and less discriminatory basis, both in its prosecution of offenders and it in treatment of victims. Few statutes can have been subjected to the same level of public scrutiny as this Act, emerging from a climate of public concern over the adequate protection of their children and the proliferation of paedophilia. The abnormally low conviction rate for rape as well as socio-criminal phenomena like 'date-rape' or the effect of immigration on acceptable sexual practices were yet more facets of a many-handed debate about how the law should respond to a changing world. Understanding these issues is central to finding the coherent thread upon which different changes in the Act attempt to hang.
Levenson, J.S. & Cotter, L.P. (2005). The effect of Megan’s Law on sex offender reintegration. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 21(1), 49-66.
The federal and state governments have laws which permit for the legal confinement of sex offenders deemed to pose a risk to themselves or others. In Kansas v. Hendricks (1997), the U.S. Supreme Court set forth the following criteria potential offenders must satisfy in order to be civilly committed: 1) a past of committing sexual offenses; 2) a mental disorder or impairment; 3) some form of volitional impairment; and 4) a significant risk of committing a sexual offense in the future. In order to satisfy the fourth criteria, governments have implemented the use of Actuarial Risk Assessment Instruments (ARAIs) such as the Static-99 and the Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool-Revised (MnSOST-R) (Miller, Amenta, & Conroy, 2005).
Perception is not reality. The common assumption that the court system often treats female sex offenders differently than male sex offenders, the punishments of female sex offenders are more lenient than men who commit the same types of crimes, and the differences between male and female victims are all perception and not reality. Objective considerations to additional factors make the perceptions baseless. These additional factors solidify the factual differences between male and female sex offenders.
Sex offender legislation has been encouraged and written to protect the community and the people at large against recidivism and or to help with the reintegration of those released from prison. Nevertheless, a big question has occurred as to if the tough laws created help the community especially to prevent recidivism or make the situation even worse than it already is. Sex offenders are categorized into three levels for example in the case of the state of Massachusetts; in level one the person is not considered dangerous, and chances of him repeating a sexual offense are low thus his details are not made available to the public (Robbers, 2009). In level two chances of reoccurrence are average thus public have access to this level offenders through local police departments in level three risk of reoffense is high, and a substantial public safety interest is served to protect the public from such individuals.
The United States Supreme Court has yet to weigh in it’s opinion as to whether or not offender’s due process or Ex Post Facto rights are being violated by Megan’s Law.
... photos, and visiting prostitutes, I believe those should be less magnified since those are personal choices the prostitutes, offenders, and teens sending photographs are making. Even though I do think they should all be punished, I do not think their neighbors, and work place should be informed of their poor decision making. I do hope other states continue to follow in America's footsteps and spread the word about sex offenders as much as we do. I think we should continue to have the apps on our phones, and websites that inform us about the people in our surroundings. It gives us a chance to keep ourselves safer than ever by knowing what kind of people we live around. The most we can do is just have the faith that these laws will lessen the sex offenders desire to do harm on others.
Martin, R. (1996). Pursuing Public Protection Through Mandatory Community Notification of Convicted Sex Offenders: The Trials and Tribulations of Megan's Law. The Boston Public Interest Law Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 29
Before the registry was enacted, sex offenders who lived in their neighborhood victimized adults and children and no one knew about their prior criminal history. In very public cases, it was brought to light that children were being abducted, violently sexually assaulted, and finally brutally murdered by sex offenders that should have been registered. Those children could have been kept safe and may still be alive today if the public knew the information about their attackers. Also the surviving victims of sexual abuse endure life long suffering in both mental and physical symptoms. In my opinion I think that families should have unlimited access to the personal information of the registered sex offenders regardless of the privacy rights of those sex offenders. I will discuss both the sex offender’s rights as well as the right to
Many issues have come up with the laws surrounding statutory rape. Although the laws are in place to help people, many people see them as unfair and they believe that there are changes that could be made to help improve these laws. A major problem with statutory rape laws is that each state has a different law. To help improve statutory rape laws, all states should work together to have a set of country-wide laws, so that the states all have the same laws. With a few minor improvements, the statutory rape laws would be problem free.