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Tougher "Megan's Law" Would Require Notification

[Megan's Law]

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, May 8) -- Congress is considering a tougher version of "Megan's Law" which would require states to inform the public when a convicted sex offender considered a danger to the public is released from prison and settles in the neighborhood.

"Today we're putting the rights of children above the rights of convicted sex offenders," said Rep. Dick Zimmer (R-N.J.).

The bill is named after 7-year-old Megan Kanka of Hamilton Township, N.J., who was killed two years ago. Accused of the crime is a convicted sex offender who the Kankas were unaware lived across the street from them.

After the murder, New Jersey passed "Megan' Law", and a 1994 federal crime measure included similar provisions allowing states to inform a community when a convicted sex offender moves into the area.

The new federal legislation would require states to inform the public, but states would determine how much public warning is necessary, based on the danger posed by the offender. States would have to establish a warning system by September 1997 or they could lose some federal anti-crime funds.

"Sexual offenders are different," said Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). "No matter what we do, the minute they get back on the restless and unrelenting prowl for children, innocent children, to molest, abuse, and in the worst cases, to kill."

The only person to oppose the measure was Rep. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.). "Our constitution says to us that a criminal defendant is presumed innocent until he or she is proven guilty," Watt said. "The underlying assumption of this bill is that once you have committed one crime of this kind, you are presumed guilty for the rest of your life."

Fifteen states already require community notification when an offender is released, according to Zimmer, the bill's sponsor. "We need uniformity across this country to successfully protect our children from pedophiles," said Maureen Kanka, Megan's mother.



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The Clinton Administration supports the tougher notification requirements, as well as three other bills considered by the House on Tuesday.

The House passed a bill which would make it a crime for anyone to cross state lines to injure or harass another person, even non-related individuals. This bill would make restraining orders from one state valid in all.

Other bills awaiting action are:

- A bill that would increase the sentences for those convicted of violent crimes against children 14 and under, senior citizens 65 and older and the mentally and physically disabled.

- A bill that would increase the punishment of those convicted of jury or witness tampering or witness retaliation from the current 10 years to the maximum penalty for the crime being tried in the case. If the tampering or retaliation occurred in a capital crime, the maximum penalty would be life in prison, not the death penalty, said Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Judiciary crime subcommittee.


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