Sex Offender Registry

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             The next major piece of legislation came in 1996 with Megan's Law, which provides the public with the ability to access information from sex offender registries. Megan's Law also requires state and local law enforcement agencies to release relevant information necessary to protect the public about persons registered under a state registration program established under the Jacob Wetterling Act. .
             One of the more prominent risks of being on the registry is that the lack of restrictions can expose former offenders to the risk of individuals willing to act on this information in irresponsible and even unlawful ways ("More Harm Than Good "). In many states, registration covers everyone convicted of sexual crimes, which can range from the rape of children to public urination, regardless of their potential threat to children. Attorney and victim advocate Robin Sax praises registries for "[putting] the power of information in the hands of the people so that adults can better educate themselves about their neighbors, their friends' neighbors, and the people who live near their children's schools " (Sax). .
             However, there are countless consequences to the open access of these registries, such as many offenders being unable to get or keep jobs or find affordable housing while there is little evidence that this form of community notification prevents sexual violence. An example of this is the Jaycee Lee Dugard case; she was kidnapped in California at age 11 and held captive for 18 years in Phillip Garrido's garden. He managed to hide his secret prisoner from the police even though he was a convicted rapist and his name appeared on the public sex offender registry. Although Garrido's case is extraordinary, it illustrates the flaws in America's sex offender registration and community notification schemes.
             (America's Flawed").
             On the same token, an increasing number of states and cities have started to prohibit registered offenders from living within a certain distance of places where children gather, like schools and playgrounds, and many of these restrictions even apply to offenders who were not convicted of abusing children.