Jessica X
October 18, 2012
Term Topic Question: Should Pennsylvania place restrictions on Megan’s Law?
I. Introduction
A. Attention-Gaining Strategy: Imagine knowing that you live next door to a sex
offender and did not know? How unsafe does that make you feel? I don’t know
about all of you? But I would definitely want to be aware of it.
B. Relevance/Importance to Audience
1. Based off of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin in 2010, 1-10% of child
molestation cases are unreported crimes, which is a scary statistic because
according to Dr. Gene Abel, a detective from CNN, estimates that between 1%
and 5% of our population molest children, which means that at minimum,
69,540,967 people across the world are sexual predators. Therefore, there is a
likely chance that all of you encountered a predator at some point without even
knowing it.
2. (Slide 1) Here is a list of the 3 sex offenders after I put in Temple
University’s address. The top two are the two closes to Temple, and the third
one is an example of an offender who was convicted in Delaware, but moved
to Pennsylvania. (Slide 2) For every offender, I could click the link on their
names and see a picture, physical descriptions, past convictions, any alias, and
a map to indicate his address location.
C. Credibility: My knowledge on this issue expanded greatly after researching
both sides of the way people view Megan’s law because they both support valid
points. Also, I have a personal experience with this topic since one of my former
family friends was convicted as a child predator under the Pennsylvania State law
over the summer, which made me interested in exploring this topic.
D. Preview of Main Points: Today I will discuss the case that lead to the creation
of Megan’s Law, the goals of Megan’s Law, and the pros and cons of its use.
Transition: In order to delve into the debate, you need to understand the case that sparked
this law.
II. Body
A. First Main Point: What lead to Megan's Law? (Side 4)
1. According to an article written in the New York Times, this law is active in
hopes to save other children from becoming a victim from what a young girl,
named Megan Kanka did not survive from. It was formed by her family to try
to make a difference in society to protect and save children in neighborhoods
around the country. The Kanka’s thought they lived in a safe, suburban tow in
New Jersey, but they were sadly mistaken because there was no way of
tracking any type of harmful offences.
2. First grader, Megan Kanka from Hamilton Township, New Jersey was
murdered on July 29th, 1994. Jesse Timmendequas, age 33, lured this 7 year old
into his house by offering to show her his puppy when she was riding her bike
around her neighborhood. He admitted to the New Jersey police that he began
touching Megan eventually tied a belt around her neck – strangling her as he
sexually assaulted her. Then he tired plastic bags over her head, placed her
body into a box, and before dropping her off at a nearby park, he molested her
one last time.
3: Once he was sentenced and as the investigation preceded, it was found that
Timmendequas was already convicted of two attempted sexual contact and five
felonies including attempted murder and kidnapping before this incident and
shared a house with two other male offenders. No one was aware of this living
situation and most communities would not be comfortable with it or let their
children travel alone if they had known this information.
4. In hopes of saving sanity and lives of children, the Kanka family began the
Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation with the mission of exposing the locations of
convicted child molesters. It requires a sex offender registration, with a
database tracked by the state, community notifications, and life in prison.
Transition: This a heart-breaking story. To better understand the law, it is helpful to how
Pennsylvania has used it to restrict those convicted of sex crimes.
B. Second Main Point: (Slide 5) How does Megan's Law work in PA?
1. As described by the Pennsylvania State government website, Megan’s Law
has been established for the purpose of providing the public with information
in order to protect children from becoming victims of sexual offenders. The
Pennsylvania State Police is responsible for updating and tracking the locations
of convicted sexual offenders and notifying surrounding areas where his or her
presence happens to be. This capability makes law enforcement and the
communities prepare “constructive plans, safety programs, and victimization
prevention strategies” for offenders in their neighborhoods.
2. On the Pennsylvania’s State registration page, the police recognize the
offenses that are considered as a 10-year offense or lifetime offense.
a. Examples of crimes that are convicted under 10-year registrations are
kidnapping, where the victim is a minor, luring a child into a motor vehicle,
incest: where the victim is 12 years of age or older but under 18 years of age,
promoting the prostitution of a minor, obscene and other sexual materials and
performances, sexual abuse of children, AND the attempt to commit any of the
offenses under the 10-year registration of lifetime registration.
b. Examples of offenses located under lifetime registrations are
offenders with two or more convictions of any of the offenses under the
10-year registration, rape, involuntary sexual intercourse, sexual
assault, and incest where the victim is under the age of 12.
3. Sub-point 2: According to the same source, there are penalties when
sexual predators do not obey Megan’s Law by disregarding to register or
providing inaccurate information when they register.
a. Offenders must register with the Pennsylvania State Police upon
release from incarceration, parole from a state or county correctional
facility or the commencement of a sentence of probation.
b. Additionally, offenders are required to notify the Pennsylvania State
Police within 48 hours of any change of residence or establishment of
an additional residence(s), or when they become homeless/transient,
change of employer, employment location, or termination of
employment, and change of institution or location at which the offender
is enrolled as a student, or termination of enrollment. This is necessary
to keep the website up to date.
c. If the offender fails to comply with any of this rules, then their
offenses can be changed up to a first-degree felony and be required to
stay in prison for life.
Transition: (Slide 6) Although, there are definite understandings that government
officials should initiate action to punish sex offenders who commit crimes, however there
are many individuals who do not find all of those boundaries to be essential for
punishment.
C. Third Main Point: When the general public reviews the positions that the
restrictions on Megan’s Law take, there are several main points in the debate that
each perspective can consider, which are provided by P. Rothenberg from the
Legalease Journal.
1.(Slide 7) Many people feel that the protection of children from possible
pedophiles, molesters, and kidnappers is worth liming offender’s rights.
Notifying the community about offender’s whereabouts allows neighbors to
protect themselves. If only one child is spared from the trauma of a sex crime
because the community was notified, then Megan’s Law has been affective.
Compared to simply releasing offenders back into the community, notifying
the community is a more effective solution.
a. The general theme for those who are pro Megan’s Law is the argument
that any person convicted of a sex crime no longer deserves the right to
privacy due to the nature of the crime.
2. However, the majority of abuse against children are usually by familiar
figures and friends and Megan’s Law does not prevent such abuses from
occurring, it only obligates the familiar members to register as sex offenders.
a. Sex offenders are treated differently than other criminals (burglars,
drug dealers) and they are not registered or notified to the public, even
though they may be dangerous to society as well.
b. Many registered sex offenders have not offended another individual,
but are obligated to register for indecent exposure
(streaking/mooning/urinating in public). So after doing time in jail or
being on probation, individuals may no longer have the same lifestyle
again because they are still known as registered offenders and have low
reputations.
c. The registered offender will not be prevented from sexually abusing in
the future because they could go to another neighborhood. Most of the
arguments for Megan’s law are based off of what seems like “the right
thing to do.”
d. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the only rational
solutions to the crisis we face are two steps: increase accountability for
locking up sex offenders longer and keep offenders under intensive
lifetime surveillance if and when they are released
Transition: (Slide 8) There are pros and cons to the restrictions of Megan’s Law, but both
points of views agree that there needs to be some type of law to achieve justice, just not a
national policy.
III. Conclusion
A. Summary of Main Points: Over the course of this presentation, I have
described the background of Megan’s Law, the goals of Megan’s Law, and the
contrasting views towards the restrictions the law places on sex offenders.
B. Closing: In an ideal world, any person who feels the temptations that child
predators get around children would receive help before any criminal action took
place. If he or she decides to visit a psychologist or psychiatrist, who they would
have to see anyway after getting convicted, the communities we live in would be
much safer. Since you saw how close and common sexual predators live in
relationship to where we go to school for 4 or more years of our life, would you
want to identify the areas to watch out for?
References
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, (2003). Registration details. Retrieved from
Pennsylvania State Police website:
http://www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us/Registration.aspx?dt=
Glaberson, W. (1996, May 28). Stranger on the block -- a special report.;
At center of 'megan's law' case, a man no one could reach. The New York Times,
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/28/nyregion/stranger-blockspecial-report-center-megan-s-law-case-man-no-one-could-reach.html?src=pm
Parents For Megan's Law And The Crime Victim Center. (2007). Statistics- child sexual
abuse. Retrieved from
http://www.parentsformeganslaw.org/public/statistics_childSexualAbuse.html
Rothenberg, P. (n.d.). Considering megan’s law: Weigh pros and cons of disclosure when
sex offenders live nearby. Legalease, Retrieved from
http://www.wcsr.com/resources/pdfs/real091505a.pdf
Weeks, G. (2005). Megan's law provides false sense of security. Atlanta JournalConstitution, Retrieved from http://www.protect.org/tools/articles/8-articles/1578megans-law-provides-false-sense-of-security
Yello Dyno. (2005). Child predator statistics. Retrieved from
http://www.yellodyno.com/html/child_molester_stats.html