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Child Safety Background Information

Are all sex offenders required to register with their local police department?

Sex offenders released from custody since Megan's law went into effect in 1996 are required to register with their local police department. Also, sex offenders who were on parole or probation on the effective date of the law, as well as offenders who have been found to be repetitive and compulsive by experts and the courts — regardless of the date of sentence — are required to register. Some registrants must verify their addresses annually; others must verify their addresses every 90 days.

What is Megan's Law?

Megan's Law, signed in 1996 by President Clinton, allows states discretion in establishing criteria for disclosure, but compels them to make private and personal information on registered sex offenders available to the public. It is deemed that such public notification:

1. assists law enforcement in investigations,
2. establishes legal grounds to hold known offenders,
3. deters sex offenders from committing new offenses and
4. offers citizens information they can use to protect children from victimization.

How did Megan's Law come to be?

In July 1994, 7-year-old Megan Kanka accepted an invitation from a neighbor in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, to see his new puppy. The neighbor, Jesse Timmendequas, was a twice-convicted pedophile. He raped her, murdered her, and dumped her body in a nearby park. Megan's parents said that they never would have allowed her to travel the neighborhood freely if they had known that a convicted sex offender was living across the street. Megan's Law was later enacted in an effort to provide community notification.

What is the Wetterling Act?

The Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, passed by Congress in 1994, requires states to register individuals convicted of sex crimes against children. Sex offender registration laws are deemed necessary for four main reasons.

1. Sex offenders pose a high risk of re-offending after release from custody.
2. Protecting the public from sex offenders is a primary governmental interest.
3. The privacy interests of persons convicted of sex offenses are less important than the government's interest in public safety.
4. Release of certain information about sex offenders to public agencies and the general public will assist in protecting the public safety.

How did the Wetterling Act come to be?

In 1989, Jacob Wetterling, 11, his brother Trevor, 10, and a friend, Aaron, 11, were riding their bikes while returning home from a convenience store in St. Joseph, Minnesota. A masked man came out of a driveway and ordered the boys to throw their bikes into a ditch, turn off their flashlights, and lie face down on the ground. The gunman asked each of the boys his age. They responded. He told Trevor to run into the woods and not to look back, or he would shoot him. Next, the gunman turned Aaron over, looked at his face, and told him to run into the woods. As Trevor and Aaron ran away, they glanced back to see the gunman grab Jacob's arm. When Aaron and Trevor reached the wooded area, they turned to find that Jacob and the gunman were gone. Jacob has never been found.

On October 22, 1989, friends and strangers rallied to the family's aid and worked 24 hours each day to search the area and distribute flyers across the country. Investigators later learned that, unknown to local law enforcement, halfway houses in St. Joseph housed sex offenders after their release from prison. Jacob's mother, Patty, became an advocate for missing children and was appointed to a Governor's Task Force that recommended stronger sex offender registration requirements in Minnesota. Later, the U.S. Congress passed the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act in Jacob's honor.

What is the Lychner Act?

The Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act, passed by Congress in 1996, provides for a national database to track sex offenders.

How did the Lychner Act come to be?

Houston real estate agent Pam Lychner prepared to show a vacant home to a prospective buyer. Awaiting her at the house was a twice-convicted felon who brutally assaulted her. Her husband arrived and saved her life. She then formed "Justice for All," a victims rights advocacy group that lobbies for tougher sentences for violent criminals. U.S. Senators Gramm and Biden credited Lychner with helping craft the language of a bill that established a national database to track sex offenders. Lychner and her two daughters were killed in the explosion of TWA Flight 800 off the coast of Long Island in July 1996. Later that year, Congress passed the Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996 in her memory.

What is the National Alert Registry?

Since Megan's law was passed, it is required by law for all sexual offenders to register with their local police department. Unfortunately, budgetary restraints make it almost impossible for this vital information to be passed out to each parent in every community. The National Alert Registry was designed to bring this information directly to you. When you subscribe to the National Alert Registry full service, it uses your zip code to notify you if a sexual offender has moved into your community. The notification includes a complete profile of the sexual offender.

How does the National Alert Registry notification process work?

The National Alert Registry performs an exact address search as soon as new data is received from your locality. The profile will include any information that your state makes available. This normally includes name, address and criminal offense, but may also include a photo and demographic profile, when available.

What does a subscriber do when the National Alert Registry sends an offender notification?

Always use the information responsibly. Talk to you children and reinforce safety precautions about staying away from strangers. Ask your children to tell you where they will be at all times. Tell your children where the sex offender lives, what he or she looks like and what to do if they encounter or are approached by that person. Explain to your children the importance of staying away from locations where sex offenders live and to treat them as strangers. If you believe a crime is being committed, contact your local law enforcement agency immediately.

If a subscriber moves, how is his/her National Alert Registry membership affected?

Since your membership only requires an e-mail address for you to be advised of new listings, you will just need to make sure that you update your National Alert Registry account information in the event the move necessitates your obtaining a new e-mail address.

Can additional addresses be searched by the National Alert Registry?

Absolutely. Contact the National Alert Registry customer support team for the latest details.

Will the National Alert Registry eliminate sex crimes and sexually motivated abductions?

The National Alert Registry alone is not going to eliminate sex crimes or sexually motivated abductions. Reducing the prevalence of sex crimes can be effectively accomplished by being aware of any sexual offenders living in your area, harsher criminal sentencing, effective sex-offender treatment programs and abduction prevention educational programs.

How does the National Alert Registry deal with the various ways states provide information?

Because of Megan's law and each state's decision process, some states have not released address details. California (CA) and New Jersey (NJ) are such states. The location information contained in the National Alert Registry database for CA and NJ is that of the courts. There are also a number of states that have not released address information. Those states are: Arkansas, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. The database of the National Alert Registry is updated constantly and as soon as new information is available from a state, that information will be added to the database.

How current and accurate is the information provided by the National Alert Registry?

The National Alert Registry receives all its information from individual states and local court systems and then it is compiled and plotted. National Alert Registry relies totally upon the accuracy of that state and local information for distribution and has no mechanism available to verify its accuracy. Updates are received from individual jurisdictions at varying intervals. Upon receipt of the information, the National Alert Registry compiles it into a useful format for distribution to members. The time interval from receipt to distribution is usually less than two weeks, but upon occasion may exceed that time frame.

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