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