This site deals with the law dedicated to the memory of Megan Kanka
(1987 - July 29, 1994)
last updated: 11-10-99
Megan Kanka was
so sweet, so innocent, so trusting. On a hot summer day in July, seven-year-old
Megan Kanka decided that she wanted to play with her friend across the
street. She told her mom exactly where she would be and her mom, without
hesitation, gave her permission to go. Megan never made it to her friend’s
house. Jesse Timmendequas, a twice-convicted sex offender, got to her first.
He lured Megan into his house with promises of a puppy. Megan loved puppies.
On that day, July 29, 1994, Jesse Timmendequas, the monster, raped,
beat, sodomized, and murdered the innocent child. As a sadistic pedophile,
Timmendequas received great pleasure out of having the strength to brutally
murder a young child. Since then "Megan Kanka" has become a household
name as lobbyists, politicians, and Megan’s own mother, Maureen Kanka,
fight for a law that will provide parents with the opportunity to keep
their children away from the monsters. This law is "Megan’s Law." "Megan’s Law" consists of eleven bills that include provisions
involving notification of residents that a sex offender lives in their
neighborhood, mandatory registration of convicted sex offenders with their
local police, DNA testing and analysis, and lifetime supervision.
Do monsters deserve the right to privacy? Should society protect the
sex offenders who rape and murder three percent of American children? Governor
Christie Whitman does not believe so, she said, "knowledge is power,
and this is the power for people to protect themselves."
New Jersey's Law & Statistics
New Jersey has 4,903 sex offenders. All must register with the local
police, notifying the authorities of their presence in the neighborhood.
Upon registration, the offender’s profile is reviewed and rated using 13
categories. The rating corresponds with what is called a tier level.
For tier one offenders, the police in his town are notified and
asked to monitor him. However, he has a small risk of offending again.
There are a total of 1,380 sex offenders in New Jersey who have been classified
as tier one.
For tier two offenders, the local police, schools, and groups
with large numbers of children, such as day care centers, are all notified
of the offender’s presence. There have been 563 New Jersey offenders classified
as tier two.
A tier three offender is monitored at all times. In New Jersey, police
go door to door within a two-mile radius of the offender’s residence and
show neighbors a picture of the offender, describe him, and make the residents
aware of his exact address. There are 46 offenders in New Jersey like Jesse
Timmendequas who would have been classified as a tier three
offender because of the tremendous probability of repeating his offense.
Since President Clinton signed federal "Megan’s Law" requiring
all states to provide some sort of notification of dangerous sex offenders
on May 17, 1996, the country has banned together with the common goal of
protecting America’s children from pedophiles.
This is all an effort to, as Maureen Kanka says, "keep them
away from our children." A monster took the innocent child from
all those who loved her and all those who never got a chance to see her
beautiful, lively smile. Maureen Kanka also comments that "the only
time someone who has lost a child to murder receives closure is when they
die."
Critics of the law must remember that Jesse Timmendequas stole Megan’s
right to life. Does he and other monsters like him deserve the right to
privacy? Does any person who takes the unmatched innocence of a child deserve
to be able to be completely free of his crime as soon as he steps out of
jail? A violated child lives with the crime for the rest of his life and
so should the criminal himself. Children should feel safe. Parents should
feel secure. "Megan’s Law" helps parents keep the monsters
from emerging from their closets and preying on their innocent children.
By forming partnerships with legislators, law enforcement, the private sector, organizations, and concerned citizens, the world that we leave to our children will be safer and more secure than the world we live in today.
Megan's
Law 
