A GUIDE TO MEGAN'S LAWS: PREVENTION OF DOMESTIC AND

INTRODUCTION

Protecting children from violence and predatory behavior, including

sexual exploitation and human tracking, are among the highest

duties and responsibilities of government.

The International Labor Organization estimates that 1.8 million

children are victims of commercial sexual exploitation around the

world each year. Child predators thrive on secrecy that allows

them to commit heinous crimes against children with impunity.

A 2009 study by Mark E. Olver, Stephen C.P. Wong and Terry P.

Nicholaichuk,

one of many available on the Justice Department’s

SMART Web site,

found that untreated moderate- to high-risk sex

oenders were reconvicted for sex crimes at a rate of 17.7 percent

after three years and 32 percent after 10 years—and these are

just the sex oenders who are caught. Domestic and international

Megan’s laws ensure that parents and nations are able to prevent

repeat sexual oenses against children by known sex oenders.

A GUIDE TO MEGAN’S LAWS:

PREVENTION OF DOMESTIC

AND INTERNATIONAL

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF

CHILDREN

EXPERT PAPER

THE HONORABLE CHRIS SMITH,

MEMBER OF CONGRESS, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

1 Olver, Wong, Nicholaichuk, “Outcome Evaluation of a High-Intensity Inpatient Sex Of-

fender Treatment Program,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2009.

2 Roger Przybylski, Adult Sex Offender Recidivism, Office of Justice Programs Sex

Offender Management Assessment and Planning Initiative (October 2014) (http://

www.smart.gov/SOMAPI/sec1/ch5_recidivism.html#recr_find).

Domestic Megan’s Laws

Tragic kidnappings and child sexual assault

in Minnesota in 1989 led to the Jacob

Wetterling Crimes Against Children and

Sexually Violent Oender Registration Act,

which is Title XVII of the Federal Violent Crime

Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.

This federal law required that, upon release

from prison, individuals who had committed

a sexually violent act against a child must

designated local law enforcement, creating

a centralized registry in each state. While

the original federal law helped police in their

searches for child kidnappers, the law did

not require that the information be made

public.

Then, in 1994, a young girl from my

hometown and congressional district

(Hamilton, New Jersey) was lured into the

home of a convicted pedophile who lived

across the street from her home. Megan

Kanka, seven years old, was raped and

murdered. Neither, Megan, or Megan

Kanka’s parents, or their neighbors knew

Megan’s assailant had been convicted

and jailed for child sexual assault. If they

had known, they could have warned

Megan not to go into the man’s house.

This tragedy led to the enactment of the

federal and state Megan’s Laws—public

sex oender registries—in every state in the

United States.

Under these laws and the

subsequent Adam Walsh Child Protection

and Safety Act of 2006, anyone can access

an internet website showing the home and

work address of sex oenders living in their

community.

Who must register: Some states have

their own systems of who must register

and for how long. Other states have

adopted the federal model embodied in

the Adam Walsh Act of 2006. Under this

system, individuals who are convicted of

any type of sex oense against an adult

or child must register.

The registration system is divided up

into three tiers, with Tier I oenses being

those punishable by one year or less in

prison, and Tier II and Tier III oenses

punishable by more than 1 year in prison.

• Tier I oenses are any oenses that

are not Tier II or Tier III oenses, and

may include such things as public

indecency or public urination, among

other misdemeanors

• Tier II sex oenses, include

completion or attempt against a minor

of the following: 1) sex tracking;

2) coercion and enticement to

prostitution or criminal sexual activity

(in interstate or foreign commerce or

using the mail); 3) transportation with

intent to engage in criminal sexual

activity; 4) abusive sexual contact

(coercion of person in custody,

sexual contact with an incapacitated

person, or child 12 years old or

younger, etc.); 5) use of a minor in

a sexual performance; 6) solicitation

of a minor to practice prostitution;

7) production or distribution of child

pornography; or sex crimes against

a minor that occurs after the oender

becomes a Tier I sex oender.

3 Megan’s Law, P.L. 104-145 (May 17, 1995) https://beta.congress.gov/104/bills/hr2137/BILLS-104hr2137pcs.pdf.

Megan’s Law and the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Acts

have since been further refined by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006/Sex Offender Notifica-

tion Act of 2006, P.L. 109-248, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-109publ248/pdf/PLAW-109publ248.pdf.

4 New Jersey Megan’s Law website: http://www.nj.gov/njsp/info/reg_sexoffend.html.

5 Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, P.L. 109-248: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/

hr4472/text

• Tier III sex oenses include completion,

attempt, or conspiracy to commit

1) aggravated sexual abuse or sexual

abuse through use of fear or threats

of death, 2) abusive sexual contact

against a minor who has not attained

the age of 13 years, and the oense

involves kidnapping of a minor

(unless committed by a parent or

guardian) or occurs after the oender

becomes a Tier II sex oender.

The law is not limited to, but especially

includes in all Tiers (according to severity/

length of imprisonment) individuals

convicted of a “specied oense against

a child” (under the age of 18) 1) involving

kidnapping (unless committed by a

parent or guardian), 2) involving false

imprisonment (unless committed by

a parent or guardian), 3) solicitation to

engage in sexual conduct, 4) use in a

sexual performance, 5) solicitation to

practice prostitution, 6) video voyeurism

as described in section 1801 of title 18,

United States Code, 7) possession,

production, or distribution of child

pornography, 8) criminal sexual conduct

involving a minor, or the use of the Internet

to facilitate or attempt such conduct, 9)

any conduct that by its nature is a sex

oense against a minor.

Jurisdictions

may wish to add attempts or conspiracies

to commit such crimes, as well.

Exceptions to Registration:

1) In what is called the “Romeo and

Juliet” exception, an oense involving

consensual sexual conduct is not

a sex oense for the purposes of

the federal law if the victim was an

adult, unless the adult was under the

custodial authority of the oender

at the time of the oense, or if the

victim was at least 13 years old and

the oender was not more than 4

years older than the victim.

2) Individuals who were convicted/

adjudicated delinquent at the age

of 13 or younger also do not have

to register. Individuals who were

convicted at the age of 14 or older

at the time of the oense and whose

sex crime was comparable to or

more severe than aggravated sexual

abuse, or attempted or conspired

to commit aggravated sexual abuse

should register.

3) Foreign convictions are excluded

from registration only if they were not

obtained with sucient safeguards

for fundamental fairness and due

process for the accused. Foreign

convictions obtained with sucient

safeguards are included.

Length of Registration: Sex Oenders

are required to register for 15 years,

if the oender is a Tier I sex oender

(prison time one year or less); 25 years,

if the oender is a Tier II sex oender;

and the life of the oender, if the

oender is a Tier III sex oender.

The length of registration may be

reduced in certain cases if the sex

oender is a Tier 1 oender and for 10

years is not subsequently 1) convicted

of any oense for which imprisonment

for more than 1 year may be imposed,

2) convicted of any sex oense,

3) successfully completes any periods

of supervised release, probation, and

parole, and 4) successfully completes

an appropriate sex oender treatment

program certied by a jurisdiction or by

the Attorney General. A Tier III oender

may also have the registration period

reduced if he was a minor adjudicated

delinquent and has had a clean record

for 25 years.

6 Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006/Sex Offender Notification Act (P.L. 109-248), Title I, Subtitle A,

Sec. 111 (3) and (4), http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-109publ248/pdf/PLAW-109publ248.pdf.

7 Ibid. Sec. 111 (7).

8 Ibid, Sec. 111 (5)(c).

9 Ibid. Sec. 111 (8).

Information Required at Registration:

States must gather the information

below and provide it to the FBI for

the centralized, U.S. government

registry used by law enforcement. This

information is not necessarily made

available to the public.

1) The name of the sex oender (including

any alias used by the individual).

2) The Social Security number of the

sex oender.

3) The address of each residence at

which the sex oender resides or will

reside.

4) The name and address of any

place where the sex oender is an

employee or will be an employee.

5) The name and address of any place

where the sex oender is a student

or will be a student.

6) The license plate number and a

description of any vehicle owned or

operated by the sex oender.

7) Any other information required by

the Attorney General. Importantly,

current regulation requires any

sex oender who is traveling

internationally to inform his local

jurisdiction 21 days in advance of

travel. The local jurisdiction then

forwards this information to the U.S.

Department of Justice.

Enforcement: Federal, state, and local

governments share responsibility to

track down sex oenders who do not

keep their information current and to

personally verify address, photo, and

other information (1) each year, if the

oender is a tier I sex oender; (2) every

6 months, if the oender is a Tier II sex

oender; and (3) every 3 months, if

the oender is a Tier III sex oender.

The U.S. Department of Justice has

established the Oce of Sex Oender

Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering,

and Tracking to assist states and

localities with implementation of the

federal law, and maintains a website

of useful forms, regulations on

implementation, etc.

Sex oenders who fail to keep their

information current are subject to criminal

penalties, including imprisonment.

Information Available to the Public:

Federal law also requires that certain

information be available to the public

on the internet in searchable form (by

zip code or geographic radius set by

the user. The website may NOT include

1) the identity of any victim of a sex

oense; 2) the Social Security number

of the sex oender; 3) any reference to

arrests of the sex oender that did not

result in conviction; and 4) any other

information exempted from disclosure

by the Attorney General.

States have the option to exclude from

the website 1) certain oenses that are

punishable by one year or less in prison

unless it is a “specied oense against

a child”, 2) the name of an employer

of the sex oender, 3) the name of an

educational institution where the sex

oender is a student, and 4) any other

information exempted from disclosure

by the Attorney General.

Protections for Sex Oender

Registrants: Federal law requires that

individuals using the website be warned

that if they injure, harass, or commit a

crime against any individual named in

the registry or residing or working at any

reported address, they will face criminal

penalty.

The Megan’s Law website for

New Jersey states the following:

10 Ibid. Sec. 114.

11 Ibid. Sec. 116.

12 Office of Sex Offender Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking, U.S. Department of Justice http://ojp.

gov/smart/guidelines.htm

13 Ibid. Sec. 113 (e).

14 Ibid Sec. 118 (a) and (b).

15 Ibid. Sec. 118 (c).

16 Ibid Sec. 118 (d).

• Consistent with this public safety

purpose of Megan's Law, the Internet

registry law expressly prohibits the

use of registry information for the

purpose of applying for, obtaining,

or denying health insurance, insurance,

loans, credit, education, scholarships

or fellowships, benets privileges or

services provided by any business

establishment (unless for a purpose

consistent with the enhancement

of public safety), or housing or

accommodations.

• The law also makes it a crime,

punishable by a term of imprisonment

between three and ve years and a

ne of up to $15,000, to use registry

information to commit a criminal

oense, and makes it a disorderly

persons oense, punishable by a

ne of up to $1,000, to use registry

information to commit any disorderly

persons or petty disorderly persons

oense. These charges would be in

addition to any charges related to the

underlying criminal act committed.

Despite concern that vigilante violence

would result from making publically

available the names, photos, addresses,

and sex oenses of sex oenders,

instances of such violence are rare.

International Megan’s Law

It is imperative that we take the lessons

we have learned on how to protect our

children from known child sex predators

within our borders and expand those

protections globally. The 2014 Tracking

in Persons report noted 36 countries from

which sex tourists travel abroad, and 53

destination countries for exploitation.

Child-

sex tourists may travel overseas to commit

sexual oenses against minors because

of perceived anonymity; law enforcement

in certain countries is perceived as being

scarce, corrupt, or unsophisticated; perceived

immunity from retaliation because the child

sex tourist is a United States citizen; the

child-sex tourist has the nancial ability to

impress and inuence the local population;

the child-sex tourist can ‘‘disappear’’ after

a brief stay; the child-sex tourist can target

children meeting their desired preference;

and, there is no need to expend time and

eort ‘‘grooming’’ the victim.

Law enforcement and media reports

continue to document Americans—with

known criminal backgrounds of sexual

abuse against children in the United

States—who are later caught sexually

exploiting children in East Asia, Europe,

Central and South America. For example,

in 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs

Enforcement arrested three Americans for

exploiting young children in Cambodia. All

three were registered sex oenders who

had served time in prison. News reports

indicate that after their release from U.S.

prisons, the men had travelled to the most

destitute areas of Cambodia. One bought

a 13-year old boy from his parents for $2

and a bag of rice. Another man was caught

molesting a 10-year old girl in a child

brothel outside Phnom Penh. The third

man was convicted previously in California

of molesting as many as 500 boys during

camping trips. He travelled to Southeast

Asia at least eight times and lured young

boys with dollar bills to his home where he

sexually assaulted them.

In June 2013, a United States registered

sex oender was indicted for traveling to the

Philippines for illicit sexual conduct with ve

children and producing and distributing child

pornography.

In February 2014, another

17 New Jersey Megan’s Law website: http://www.nj.gov/njsp/info/reg_sexoffend.html.

18 U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2014, http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2014/index.htm.

19 Deena Guzder, “A Move to Register Sex Offenders Globally,” TIME (September 7, 2009) http://content.time.com/

time/world/article/0,8599,1920911,00.html.

20 News Releases, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “Previously convicted US child rapist indicted in Missouri

for producing, distributing child pornography while living in Philippines” (June 12, 2013), http://www.ice.gov/news/

releases/1306/130612kansascity.htm.

2) Advance notice to home country of

intended sex oender travel: In the

United States, sex oenders are

required to alert local law enforcement

of intended international travel 21 days

in advance of that travel. This gives the

United States and the sex oender’s

intended destination country sucient

notice and opportunity to respond

appropriately to the sex oenders

intended travel (whether that is for the

destination country to deny the visa/

entry, restrict the locations the sex

oender may travel within the country,

monitor the sex oender while in

country, or other action).

Exceptions can be built into the system

for sex oenders who regularly have to

travel for business purposes, or who

are attending a funeral, or who were

otherwise unable for legitimate reason

to provide 21 days advance notice.

These same reasons may provide

exception from advance notication to

the destination country.

3) Cross-checking of Flight Manifests

with Oender Registries: Sex oenders

may choose not to report in advance

of travel. Checking nal ight manifests

against sex oender registries provides

an opportunity to warn destination

countries of sex oenders who are

attempting to travel under the radar.

4) Advance notication to intended

destination country: The names

of traveling sex oenders are then

forwarded to appropriate law enforcement

(often front-line border security) in the

destination country with as much notice

as possible so that the destination

country may respond appropriately.

United States registered sex oender

received a 30-year federal prison sentence

for abusing at least 8 children and producing

child pornography after moving to Ecuador

to teach English and work as an artist.

While “long-arm jurisdiction” laws are

critical tools in the ght against human

tracking and allow countries to prosecute

sex tracking crimes abroad once the

perpetrator is back in the home country—

by then the harm has already been done

to the child.

It is the same horror movie

replayed over and over. We can and must

do more to warn destination countries so

that they can, in turn, protect their children

from sex tourism.

The December 2013 Addendum to the

OSCE Plan of Action to Combat Tracking

in Human Beings called for, “Developing and

implementing policies and actions, including

law enforcement cooperation between

participating States, to prevent the tourism

industry from being used for all forms of

tracking in human beings, in particular

for sexual exploitation of children.”

In July

2014, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

adopted Rep. Smith’s supplementary item

further explaining what is required for an

International Megan’s Law.

The basic elements of an International

Megan’s Law include the following:

1) Domestic sex oender registration

system: For an International Megan’s Law

to be eective, a country must have a

sex oender registration system—either

public or for ocial use only/government-

only. If the country is federated, a central

registration system alone or in conjunction

with state/province level registries with all

names is preferable for eciency.

21 News Releases, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “American expat who sexually abused children in Ecuador

sentenced to 30 years in US prison”, (February 4, 2014) http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1402/140204portland.

htm.

22 Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act of 2003 (Public

Law 108-21), Sec. 105 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-108publ21/pdf/PLAW-108publ21.pdf.

23 III. Prevention of Trafficking in Human Beings, Para 1.11, Decision No. 1107, Addendum to the OSCE Action Plan

to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings (December 6, 2013) http://www.mrci.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/pc-

dec1107c1-addendum-to-action-plan-thb-en.pdf.

24 Baku Declaration 2014, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution on Prevention and Prosecution of Child Sex

Trafficking, p. 52, http://www.oscepa.org/publications/declarations/2014-baku-declaration/2547-2014-baku-dec-

laration-eng-1/file

5) Follow-up on action by destination

country: The receiving country would

ideally be able to request additional

information or clarications on the

traveling sex oender and report back

to the home country any action taken

specic to the sex oender.

6) Bilateral agreements on information

sharing: International Megan’s Laws

will establish reciprocal notication,

where law enforcement in each country

have ecient information-sharing

and coordination to warn the other of

intended travel by sex oenders.

7) Time limitation: International notication

on a sex oender only continues for

the length of time the sex oender is

required to register domestically. The

length of domestic registration is usually

coordinated to the seriousness of the

sex oender’s crime and/or risk of re-

oense.

8) Appeal/Complaint Procedure: The law

should include an appeal/complaint

procedure to handle special cases

dierently or to correct any misidentied

individuals in the system.

9) Passport Marker: For sex oenders who

have committed sex crimes against

children, or other particularly serious

cases, a unique identier can be included

in the sex oender’s passport in order to

prevent the sex oender from reporting

a pass-through rather than destination

country, and thereby slipping through

the warning system. This “unique

identier” can be removed when the sex

oender is no longer required to register

domestically or when the sex oender is

no longer considered a threat.

International Megan’s Law, H.R. 515,

became P.L. 114-119 in the United States

on February 8, 2016.

Congress, United States of America

Global Study Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism

Email: [email protected]

Website: globalstudysectt.org

Contact

25 “ICE, UK National Crime Agency Enhance Efforts to Fight Child Exploitation” (6/26/2015) http://www.ice.gov/news/

releases/ice-uk-national-crime-agency-enhance-joint-efforts-combat-child-exploitation.

26 H.R. 515, International Megan’s Law (P.L. 114-119) https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/hr515/BILLS-114hr515enr.

pdf