It’s been 20 years since New Jersey’s Legislature passed Megan’s Law. The two decades since have been filled with legal challenges and disappointment it 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, 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 chambers 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 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, it was tied up in court for years, a lot of it 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.
TRENTON - State Sen. Diane Allen first introduced New Jersey’s Jessica Lunsford Act in June 2005, a few months after the 9-year-old Florida girl was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a twice-convicted sex offender.
In the ensuing years, Allen has reintroduced the measure every two years at the kickoff of a new legislative session, only to see it fall short of being signed into law.
This January marked the sixth time she has introduced the bill. She’s hoping it will be the last time.
“As you all know, Jessica was kidnapped, raped and buried alive back in 2005. Since then, I’ve had a bill in (the Legislature) to change many aspects of our law so we can make sure this kind of thing cannot happen to any children in New Jersey,” Allen said Thursday during a hearing on the latest version of the bill before the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee. - 10 million laws will not prevent another tragedy like this. You are, in our opinion, just exploiting children, fear and Mr. Lunsford for your own political gain.
“Unfortunately, we’re now one of only five states that haven’t passed any Lunsford laws,” she said during the hearing, the first by the panel of the new legislative session.
The new version of the bill seeks to impose a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life in prison for anyone convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child under age 13, except in certain circumstances of a negotiated plea agreement.
Current law permits a 10- to 20-year prison sentence for the crime.
Allen said the plea agreement clause was added at the behest of state prosecutors, who argued that there are some occasions when it’s in the best interest of the victims to permit a negotiated plea deal. In those cases, the bill allows an offender to be sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in prison.
The new bill also excludes previous language mandating that anyone found guilty of harboring an offender or hindering the arrest or conviction of a sex offender would face a mandatory sentence of six months in prison without the possibility of parole. Allen plans to introduce a separate bill with that penalty.
“Frankly, it’s a watered-down version. It is not the one the committee chairman (Donald Norcross, D-5th of Camden) was looking for or what I was looking for. But it is a start,” Allen said during the hearing.
Also testifying in favor of the measure was Gregory Quinlan of the New Jersey Family Policy Council. He pointed to a recent state auditor's report that said many New Jersey parole officers were failing to maintain regular contact with sex offenders they are assigned to supervise, including some convicts marked for mandatory parole supervision.
“This is why this (bill) is so important,” Quinlan said. “I just want to see this passed.” - So how would passing this law fix what you mentioned above? It won't!
There has been some progress in moving the measure forward. During the last session, two versions of the bill were approved by the Senate and Assembly, but the chambers failed to approve a single bill with the same language.
The Senate Law and Public Safety Committee voted 5-0 on Thursday to release the measure from the committee. Norcross said he hoped it could be fast-tracked through the Senate.
“This is why we put this bill No. 1 on our 216th legislative agenda,” he said.
Allen, who hosted Jessica’s father, Mark Lunsford, during a Statehouse news conference in 2011 to advocate for the bill, said New Jersey has waited too long to put the bill’s child protection measures into law. - When Jessica went missing it was said child porn was found on Mr. Lunsfords computer, and his own son molested a child but got a slap on the wrist.
“There is little as heinous as the sexual assault of a child, and it’s time we send a message that those types of monstrous actions are going to be punished severely,” she said. “Those vile enough to commit this type of a crime once should never be afforded the opportunity to put a second child and family through a similar tragedy.” - So why isn't your own son, and possibly you, in prison then?
New Jersey has become the latest state to try to regulate how (and if) sex offenders can use social media, an increasingly tricky problem facing legislators around the country. But privacy experts say the laws are problematic, and probably unconstitutional.
The proposed bill would require all sex offenders in New Jersey to disclose the fact on all of their social media accounts.
A similar measure was introduced, but not passed, last year. The measure has been pre-filed for the 2014 legislative session. Donna Simon, an assemblywoman who sponsored the bill, said anyone caught violating the law, if passed, could face a $10,000 fine and 18 months in prison.
“Sex offenders are very sneaky and despicable,” she said. “What they will do is they will have a myriad of screen names and other identities to use for communicating to children.” - Underage children are not suppose to be on Facebook based on their terms of service. Why don't you teach kids in school, or better yet, the parents be parents and teach their own children about the sharing of personal information online or talking to people they do not know? A major study was done years ago that shows most children are approached by their peers about sex, not a stranger, although that does happen.
Of course, stopping even a small number of sexual assaults is a laudable goal, but in many cases, laws that limit social media access are quickly struck down in court, making the whole exercise nothing more than a waste of time and money. A year ago, a federal appeals judge ruled that an Indiana law that banned sex offenders from using instant messaging, social networking sites, and chat programs was unconstitutional. In that decision, a federal judge wrote that the law “targets substantially more activity than the evil it seeks to redress.”
Nathan Wessler, an attorney with the ACLU, says that New Jersey’s proposed law is a similar overreach. The law would require sex offenders to disclose all of their online accounts to law enforcement, including E-mail addresses, screen names, social media accounts, message board handles, and more. Similar provisions in laws passed in Indiana, Nebraska, Georgia, Utah, California, and Louisiana have been struck down. A law banning sex offenders from social media was struck down in North Carolina last year, but a New Jersey ban on social media for sex offenders that are out on parole was upheld.
“The reporting requirement is particularly problematic, because you have a right to engage in anonymous debate online,” Wessler said. “You have the right to ask about embarrassing medical matters online to write on the Facebook page of the Mayo Clinic or post on message boards. The government is requiring people to turn over these anonymous identities so they can watch what they’re doing online even when it’s protected anonymous political speech.”
Wessler says that besides being unconstitutional, the requirement is “onerous and impractical,” because it requires disclosure of things such as randomly-generated email addresses from Craiglist and disclosure of accounts that may have long-since been forgotten about.
The New Jersey law is modeled on a law passed in 2012 in Louisiana and goes a step further, too. It “requires person who are required to register as a sex offender to provide notification of that fact on social networking sites” and also has to include “notice of the crime for which he was convicted, the jurisdiction of conviction, a description of his physical characteristics, and his residential address.” The offender must also link to their sex offender profile on a social networking site.
That’s a lot of information, and a lot of it is impossible, logistically, to follow through with, Wessler says.
“It is literally impossible to include all that information in 140 characters, so anyone on the registry who wanted to use Twitter would be automatically violating the law,” he said, forcing people to “choose between complying with this restriction or giving up the ability to engage in conversation in what has become the new town square.”
Some social media networks, such as Facebook and Match.com, already ask that sex offenders not register for their sites in their terms of service.
All of this may sound overly sympathetic towards sex offenders, but laws that do mainly superficial things such as trying to ban sex offenders from social media run the risk of diverting attention from other prevention efforts. The stereotypical image of a creepy old man preying on unknowing children is a popular—and certainly scary—one, but in reality, few sex offenders use social media to perpetrate their crimes.
“Numbers suggest that Internet-initiated sex crimes account for a salient but small proportion of all statutory rape offenses and a relatively low number of sexual offenses committed against minors overall,” according to a 2008 study published in American Psychologist (PDF).
More than 90 percent of sex offenders personally know their child victims, and in over 50 percent of cases, the perpetrator is a family member—far from a creepy stranger they met online.
“These laws end up being counterproductive,” Wessler said. “They’re not tailored at all to addressing the harm the state should be concerned about. Anytime a legislature relies on inaccurate stereotypes of the problem, they’re diverting attention away from ways to address the real problem. It can create a false sense of security and divert law enforcement resources.”
And, if the goal is to rehabilitate sex offenders who have served their time in jail, requiring them to abstain from social media can seriously hinder that. Because sex offenders often have a difficult time finding jobs, many are self-employed and start their own businesses. If they want to start a social media page for their business, they’d be required to comply with the law.
“A lot of times, they’ll try to make their own goods and sell them online or start a business that you can’t successfully do without marketing online,” Wessler said. “Complying with this is probably going to completely destroy their ability to promote that business online.”
TRENTON - The Senate version of a bill mandating minimum prison terms for those who sexually assault a child has been reintroduced and will be before the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee on Thursday.
One of the prime co-sponsors, Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr., said earlier this month he was dissatisfied with amendments to the bill on the Assembly side last legislative session, and he had said he would bring back what he feels is the tougher version this session.
S215 (PDF), whose prime co-sponsors include Sens. Diane Allen, (R-7), Edgewater Park and Steve Oroho, (R-24), Sparta, would mandate a minimum prison term of 25 years.
The bill also would include hindering apprehension as a fourth-degree crime punishable by a mandatory minimum of six months to a maximum of 18 months.
The Senate passed its version in October 2012, but following that the Assembly proposal was amended as it worked its way through the committee process, according to Kean. The minimum prison term was reduced from 25 to 15 years, and the hindering provision was eliminated.
The bill is dubbed the “Jessica Lunsford Act,’’ in memory of a 9-year-old Florida girl who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by a registered sex offender.
Do you know who else is on most of the social media sites your children are using?
Convicted sex offenders are and one New Jersey lawmaker wants force everyone required to register under Megan’s Law to provide notification of that important fact on social networking websites. - And so are murderers, identity thieves, bullies, drug dealers, gang members, racist groups and others, so are they going to have to register their criminal pasts on social networks as well?
“Sex offenders are very sneaky and despicable,” says Assemblywoman Donna Simon who sponsors the measure. “What they will do is they will have a myriad of screen names and other identities to use for communicating to children.” - Some do this, but putting all ex-offenders into one group is wrong, but it's typical for ignorant politicians and the media to do so, and it's usually done, in our opinion, to help further ones own career or reputation.
The bill, which is modeled on recently enacted Louisiana legislation, expands sex offender registration requirements to include this disclosure on the offender’s profile on any social networking sites.
“It’s very similar to Megan’s Law,” explains Simon. “It protects children on the Internet. Anybody caught violating this could face a fine up to $10,000 and also jail time up to 18 months.” - How is it similar to Megan's Law?
Also under Simon’s measure, any person required to register as a sex offender must also provide the appropriate law enforcement agency with a list of e-mail addresses, screen names, or other identities used for web-based chats, instant messaging, or a social networking website.
“This is a total bi-partisan measure,” says Simon. “This is something that benefits everyone and I expect it to pass quickly.” - And we expect it to be shot down for constitutional issues!
The legislation also requires registered sex offenders to provide a list of any social networking websites of which they are a member.
The Assemblywoman hopes the bill will become law before the calendar flips to 2014.
“That’s something we’re pushing for,” explains Simon. “This is very important and one of the bills that should be part of the spotlight for the lame duck session.”
Several social networking sites, like Facebook and Match.com, already prohibit sex offenders from using their sites in their terms of service. - Doesn't make it right! And why don't they also prohibit all other ex-felons? Because it's against their constitutional rights, and the same applies to ex-sex offenders!
Most of those who are busted in these online stings are not known sex offenders, so forcing them to wear a digital scarlet letter would do nothing to prevent this, and it's just another blanket law that puts all ex-sex offenders into the worst of the worse group, which most are not like this, but hey, she's a politician, so what do you expect?
01/23/2013
State Assemblywoman Donna Simon wants the state to create a law that would force sex offenders to identify their status on social networking profiles like Facebook.
“Anyone who remembers the TV show `To Catch a Predator’ knows they don’t just knock on the door anymore. We can bring a some of the landmark Megan’s Law protects to the Internet,“ Simon said. “It’s almost impossible to open a newspaper these days without seeing another example of a depraved predator hiding his past to victimize another innocent child. Any bit of knowledge that might prevent a tragic crime is essential.”
Simon, a Republican representing parts of Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset and Hunterdon counties, says three recent crimes in New Jersey show the need for the legislation and illustrate how dangerous the Internet remains for children. - The world is a dangerous place to children, and adults, but do I see you banning people from driving cars because alcoholics drive drunk and kill people? Or gang members who kill innocent kids from drive by shootings, to name a couple scenarios?
Last year a Bound Brook man who had been convicted of exposing himself to teenage girls was caught responding to personal ads on an online dating site. Earlier this month, a Robbinsville man recently was arrested after flying to Colorado to engage in sexual activity with an investigator he believed was a teenage girl he met on Facebook. And a Pemberton man previously convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 13 was sentenced to life this month after traveling to Rhode Island to have sex with an investigator he believed was an 8-year-old girl he met online.
“These horrific, stomach-turning examples show how important it is for parents and children to know whether the person they’re chatting with is capable of committing atrocious acts,” Simon said. “My plan would give one more tool to the law enforcement officers who work around the clock to protect children from sex offenders.” - It's idiotic thinking like this is why American's continue to lose their rights. Let's force all gun owners to publish on Facebook that they own a gun, post their address, photo, etc, because a couple people who own guns have killed people! Makes just as much sense, and yeah, it's the same logic.
Simon is sponsoring legislation, modeled after a law enacted in Louisiana last year, that would force anyone required to register under Megan’s Law to identify themselves as a sex offender on social networking profiles. Anyone caught violating that provision could face 18 months in jail and a $10,000 fine.
NOTE: This is one mans voice, and he doesn't speak for all ex-sex offenders!
Video Playlist Description: On March 18, 2010, College Voice reporter Daniela Rocha conducted an interview with a 27 year old sex offender named Kurt Werner at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel, NJ.
Werner volunteered to talk to the Voice in conjunction with an article on the fifteenth anniversary of New Jersey's landmark sex offender registry and notification law known as "Megan's Law."
