Megan’s Law

Megan’s Law is the informal name given to a set of laws that permit state authorities to make the whereabouts of known sex offenders known to the public. While each state has the authority to decide what type of information is made available to the public, most states collect the offender’s name, address, date of birth, picture, and a description of the crimes they were convicted of. The information is collected by law enforcement officials and then usually posted on a website where the public can search for registered sex offenders living in their neighborhood. Some states use newspapers, pamphlets, or another means to rely this information.

In California, for example, the public can search an online database of registered sex offenders using their home computers. The database provides the offender’s name, last known address, county of residence, zip code, date of birth, sex, height, weight, eye color, hair color, ethnicity, a description of the offenses, a description of any scars, marks, or tattoos, and any known aliases.

Since the passage of Megan’s law, many states have also made failure to register a crime. Using California as an example again, sex offenders must register with law enforcement within 5 days of their release from prison and again every year within 5 days of their birthday. They must also notify law enforcement within 5 days of moving to a new address or changing their name.

The law is named after 7-year-old Megan Kanka. Megan was lured into a neighbor’s house and then raped and murdered. The neighbor, Jesse Timmendequas, was a known violent sexual offender. Megan’s mother, Maureen Kanka, said that if she knew about Timmendequas’ prior sexual conviction, she would have warned her daughter to stay away from him. After Megan's death, Maureen and her husband Richard started the Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation with the belief that every parent should know if a violent or dangerous sexual offender moves into the neighborhood. Wanting legislative action to be taken, the Kankas gathered 400,000 signatures on a petition, and a law was passed within 90 days.

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