2008 Woodie Awards
Does Megan's Law help us? NO
Everyone deserves the right to keep their privacy
By: Anthony Pantoja
Issue date: 3/3/05 Section: Insight
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Megan's Law is unfair to the lives of sex offenders.This law is a major invasion of privacy, which does not let sex offenders live a normal life.
Anyone could go online and obtain names, pictures, profiles and addresses from sex offenders in California.
On meganslaw.com, for a low monthly fee of $10, the Web site will send information and updates directly to the subscriber's e-mail address.
The sex offenders have no privacy because anybody can access their information through the Internet.
This allows people who are outraged about the crime to easily find the sex offenders. The sex offenders are left as an open target to any California citizen with Internet access.
Some of the individuals on this Web site have not been charged or convicted of the crime.
This means if a person accuses someone of a sex offense, Megan's Law states you are automatically supposed to have a profile online.
Meganslaw.ca.gov shows that most sex offenders are related to or have known the victim for a long time.
Studies also show that most sex offenders do not act impulsively; in fact, they plan the assault.
Most sex offenders would prefer to target people they know and who they are close to.
There is also a possibility that the offenders were wrongfully accused. If that is the case, this law could cause an entire neighborhood to overreact over somebody who is innocent.
If the accused sex offenders are acquitted of all their charges, then they have to live with the fact that their neighbors think they are sex offenders.
There is a loophole in this law, which allows people acquitted of sexual offenses to remain accessible to the entire public via the Web site.
Subscribers receive an update, but it does not say if the individual's profile will be removed.
Meganslaw.com does not show or say if it will take off the profile of anybody who has been proven innocent.
If subscribers get updates from the Web site, this means the person's profile is still going to be online and available for others to search.
Anyone could go online and obtain names, pictures, profiles and addresses from sex offenders in California.
On meganslaw.com, for a low monthly fee of $10, the Web site will send information and updates directly to the subscriber's e-mail address.
The sex offenders have no privacy because anybody can access their information through the Internet.
This allows people who are outraged about the crime to easily find the sex offenders. The sex offenders are left as an open target to any California citizen with Internet access.
Some of the individuals on this Web site have not been charged or convicted of the crime.
This means if a person accuses someone of a sex offense, Megan's Law states you are automatically supposed to have a profile online.
Meganslaw.ca.gov shows that most sex offenders are related to or have known the victim for a long time.
Studies also show that most sex offenders do not act impulsively; in fact, they plan the assault.
Most sex offenders would prefer to target people they know and who they are close to.
There is also a possibility that the offenders were wrongfully accused. If that is the case, this law could cause an entire neighborhood to overreact over somebody who is innocent.
If the accused sex offenders are acquitted of all their charges, then they have to live with the fact that their neighbors think they are sex offenders.
There is a loophole in this law, which allows people acquitted of sexual offenses to remain accessible to the entire public via the Web site.
Subscribers receive an update, but it does not say if the individual's profile will be removed.
Meganslaw.com does not show or say if it will take off the profile of anybody who has been proven innocent.
If subscribers get updates from the Web site, this means the person's profile is still going to be online and available for others to search.