Expansion of Megan’s Law long overdue

Efforts by members of Congress to expand Megan’s Law to include international notifications have finally made it through both the House and Senate. It is about time. House Resolution 515 — International Megan’s Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking — was unanimously approved by the House some eight years after being introduced by New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, a Republican. The bill is sitting on President Barack Obama’s desk waiting to be signed into law.

The original Megan’s Law originated in New Jersey more than 20 years ago after a child from Hamilton Township was sexually assaulted and killed by a convicted, repeat sex offender living in her neighborhood. Before Megan’s Law, authorities and residents had no warning of the type of people moving into their neighborhoods.

After losing their 7-yearold daughter, the parents of Megan Kanka — Maureen and Richard Kanka — helped turn their own personal tragedy into a battle to help protect other children from a similar fate. Through their tireless efforts, all 50 states now have a Megan’s Law on the books

The international step is important in order to get more information that will help law enforcement protect all children around the globe. Right now, sexual predators are able to travel abroad to and from the United States without any notification of local authorities.

The new law would expand authority and duties of several government agencies that currently monitor oversees travel and make cooperation between those departments part of the regular routine. There are provisions to close loopholes that allow pedophiles to circumvent current notification systems. Under the new system, American authorities will be notified when pedophiles travel into the United States and American authorities will notify cooperating countries when pedophiles plan to travel from the United States.

“It is imperative — and long overdue — that the United States take the child protection lessons it has learned domestically with the successful notification systems first created by Megan’s Laws and expand them globally to prevent convicted U.S. sex offenders from harming children abroad,” Congressman Smith said. “International Megan’s Law will ensure that potential predators are on the radar of U.S. and foreign law enforcement.”

Before the International Megan’s Law bill passed Congress without any opposition, Smith gave a House floor speech praising “the extraordinary work by Megan’s courageous parents for inspiring every U.S. state and territory to enact a Megan’s Law.

“Because of this law, parents, guardians, school officials, sport coaches, law enforcement and the public at large are now empowered with the critical information they need to mitigate harm to children,” Smith said in his floor speech about the benefits of Megan’s Law.

It seems so simple, but once the president signs the bill, it will be an important step in not only protecting children at home from abuse, but also for cracking down on child sex trafficking rings internationally.

This still leaves questions of how to strengthen Megan’s Law here at home. There are flaws in the tiered structure of the notification system. There are inconsistencies from state to state since each law is different as they were crafted individually more than 50 times as they rolled out in each state and territory. There should be stricter penalties for violation of notification.

This international expansion is a good step though, and a necessary one in order to help cut down on the recidivism rates and the ability for sexual predators to get around local laws and victimize children abroad.

Under the new system, American authorities will be notifiedwhen pedophiles travel into the United States.