...Megan’s Law was a law that was passed by the New Jersey General Assembly right after the murder of Megan Kanka. This requires law enforcement to make data, like location of sex offenders accessible to public. Authorities will alert and notify residents of an incoming sexual offender when they move nearby. After the death of Megan, New Jersey residents were horrified and shocked as to how this could have happened. Assemblyman, Paul Kramer, took action and proposed Megan's Law to the New Jersey General Assembly which would be approved for a sex offender registry. Looking at this from society's point a view, this is a really beneficial step towards safety. However, current sexual offenders endure many hardships because of Megan’s Law. Megan Kanka...
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...The Elements of Megan’s Law “The principal elements of Megan’s Law provides for the registration of sex offenders and the creation of a central registry, community notification, and notification procedures for the release of certain offenders” (Brooks, 1996, p. 764). In New Jersey, a person must register if he or she was “convicted, adjudicated delinquent, or acquitted by reason of insanity” of either aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, kidnapping, or endangering the welfare of a child (Whitman & Farmer, 2000, p. 6-7). The New Jersey Guidelines, signed by Governor Whitman and Attorney General Farmer, states that if an offender was released from custody or on parole or probation since the effective...
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...first notice when you hear the term, “sex offender?” Do you picture a scary looking male stranger? Is your first emotion, anger or maybe fear? Now, what is your initial reaction when someone says that the post-sentencing laws for these offenders may be doing more harm then good in regard to current legislation passed after high profile cases. Are sexual crimes all equally heinous, justifying opinions that the offender did the crime so they should accept the consequences? I believe that these laws were created with the best of intentions. Yet, these laws are now creating alternate paths to dangerous alternatives and roadblocks to the goals they seek to achieve. Legistation On October 22, 1989, an 11-year-old boy named Jacob Wetterling was abducted from a small town in Minnesota (Hawkins, 2009). Jacob and his two friends rode their bikes into town to a convenience store to rent movies (Hawkins, 2009). On the way back home, a gunman stepped out of the woods, and told Jacob’s two friends to run into the woods and not look back (Yoder, 2011). Jacob, who stayed behind, has never been seen since (Yoder, 2011). A massive manhunt ensued with law enforcement from all over, however their exhausting efforts never led them to finding Jacob or his abductor. This case captured headlines all over the United States and in 1994 it prompted legislation called the Jacob Wetterling Act 42 U.S.C. §§14071, et seq. to be passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton (Hawkins, 2009). This...
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...English 121 I-Search paper Draft 2 November 17, 2009 Are community notification laws justified? Introduction & Research Questions Picture of Megan Kanka. Taken from Cal State, San Marcos’s University Police Department. Are community notification laws justified? When talking about such a controversial topic, we must ask ourselves why community notification laws were created. Richard and Maureen Kanka thought that their daughter Megan was safe. The Kankas had lived for fifteen years in quiet, suburban Hamilton Township, New Jersey. A family of five, they worked hard, paid their taxes, believed in God, charity, and the goodness of others. July 29, 1994 was a tragic day in history. First-grader Megan Kanka, Richard and Maureen’s daughter, was walking home from a friend’s house. As she was walking towards her front door, Jesse Timmendequas, a landscaper who had lived across the street for about a year, invited her over to pet his new puppy. When she followed him inside, he led her to an upstairs bedroom. That would become the last thing that she was free to do. For at that moment, Jesse stole her innocence. After he strangled her unconscious with his belt, he raped her and smothered her to death with a plastic bag. Timmendequas then placed Megan's body in a toolbox, drove to a soccer field a few miles from his house and dumped her body in some bushes. "Megan had a big heart; she was a great, great little girl," says her mother, Maureen Kanka, her voice rising...
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...When we talk about ethical journalism we talk about why substantial information should be made accessible to the public. As journalists we can be caught in a dilemma, what to publish? and what not to publish? In order for us to solve this frustrating but educated instinct of conscientious altitude to name and shame justice in the angle of public interest, we are given the potter box model. Given the precise case study, "the decision to pursue and publish the Megan's law story,'' there are empirical information, principles,values and loyalties all distinguished in this model. First and foremost, there in the questioning of the facts like in the study of sociology where data must be scientifically examine before a theory is constructed. Similarly to journalism where the facts must be associated with matters of the truth much in relevance with the justice system. The publishing of Megan's Law database could have been an offence of character defamation on the part of the sex offenders had it not been supported by solid ground facts. This could have led to a law suite considering if the information was not empirical....
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...charged and sentenced for their crimes for many years. Do people really know the people they live by so well, that they would leave their own child with them? Also, if they had a legal right to, would they check out their neighbor's history at the police office, or trust them? In the summer of 1994, seven-year-old Megan Kanka was kidnapped, raped, and then killed by convicted child molester Jesse Timmendequas. The outraged community was never informed that Timmendequas and two other convicted child abusers had moved in across the street from Megan (Megan Kanka). Megan's death inspired her parents to do notify communities of convicted child molesters. "Megan's Law", a law that would require immediate community notification of convicted child abusers, who were living in their area (Popkin). Some critics contend that the law is unconstitutional because it adds additional punishment to offenders (Megan's Unfinished...
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...What the Literature Says About Juvenile Sex Offenders The following articles, factsheets, and studies have been compiled to assist attorneys and individuals working on behalf of youth charged with sexual offending. The information contained in these resources aim to help others realize the fundamental differences between adult sex offenders and juvenile sex offenders, which include positive responses of juveniles to treatment, low recidivism rates of juveniles and negative impact of registries on youth development. It is our hope that this information will be used to improve legal outcomes for juvenile sex offenders, and uphold the purpose of the juvenile justice system as a rehabilitative, not punitive, system. PUBLICATIONS BY TOPIC Recidivism Rates/Amenability to Treatment Judith V. Becker, What We Know About the Characteristics and Treatment of Adolescents Who have Committed Sexual Offenses, 3 CHILD MALTREATMENT 317, (1998). The author states that comprehensive data does not exist to support the notion that if adolescents commit one sexual offense, they will go on to develop a pattern of sexual-offending behaviors or develop a psychosocial disorder. Michael F. Caldwell et al., An Examination of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act as Applied to Juveniles: Evaluating the Ability to Predict Sexual Recidivism, 14 PSYCHOLOGY, PUBLIC POLICY AND LAW 89, (2008). This study compared 91 juvenile males who had been treated in a secure correctional treatment program for...
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...400 deaths per year. Still today, many parents see bullying as “just part of being a kid,” but it is a very serious problem and can lead children or teens to have negative emotions or effects on themselves. Many states in USA have laws against cyberbullying, but only thirty four states are with it. A numerous amount people believe that the rest of the sixteen states should create cyberbullying...
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...identity. It means building a website targeting specific people. If there is so many ways to hurt people through technology, how come there is no laws or punishments for cyberbullying. Only recently the United States have been instating laws to help reduce cyberbullying. Even at that it is not enough these laws need to be strictly enforced by the government, and the people being held accountable for their actions. People argue the cyberbullying laws are a violation of the 1st Amendment, more specifically the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression. In Michigan, Joshua Mahaffey was 15, he and a friend created this web site in 2001. The website was called “Satan’s Web page” and according to Joshua it was created it for laughs. On the website listed “people I wish would die,” which listed names of several students at their schools. Then a parent notified the police about the site, it’s a threat and posed an infraction against the cyberbullying laws. Joshua was interviewed and admitted to creating and contributing to the website. Then he was sent to a local psychiatric hospital. After three days, doctors released him as not a threat to himself and others. The school then suspended him for the first semester. Joshua’s parents then sued the school district for violating his freedom of expression. Joshua then won his case against the school district. However, after September 11th security against another terriost attack was on highest alert....
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...ADVANCED TAX Consider the following examples designed to illustrate the point that you should study the law and not problems. General rule on income: All income is taxable unless something in the tax law says that it is not. General rule on deductions: Nothing is deductible unless some provision in the tax law says that it is. General rule on losses: The only losses that are deductible are for 1) Investment, 2) Business, or 3) Casualty. Example #1: Bill is in love and buys his girlfriend, Hillary, an engagement ring at a cost of $100. Later, she notices his roving eye and returns the ring to him and he sells it for $95. What is the tax result? (Megan and Phuong) SP = 95, basis = 100 ( loss = The loss is not deductible because the only losses that are deductible are for investment, business or casualty. Example #2: Bill is in love and buys his girlfriend, Hillary, an engagement ring at a cost of $100. Later, she notices his roving eye and returns the ring to him and he sells it for $105. What is the tax result? (Phuong and Jake) The gain of $5 is taxable because nothing says it’s not HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD – The requirements are as follows: 1. The person must be unmarried. 2. The person must a) provide at least half the cost of a household in which at least one b) dependent c) relative lives. Note that in the case of a dependent parent, the parent need not live with the taxpayer. EXAMPLE #3: Justin is single, lives alone, and fully supports...
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...Since 1996, it has been a federal requirement for sex offenders to register. With the introduction of the Wetterling Act, Megan’s Law, the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act, and the Walsh Act this registration has been expanded and now requires community notification. This information must be given frequently until a statutorily required limit has passed depending on the severity of the crime. The Walsh Act established a three-tier system for offenders, offenders must register home and work addresses, failure to register results in a felony, internet restrictions, and length of registration variations from fifteen years to life (Bonnar-Kidd, 412). They all have aimed at reducing recidivism and sexual assault, but limits reintegration for the...
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...Take the “united States vs. Lori Drew” case for example. In this case, Drew and her teenage girl made a fake MySpace profile with a common name “Josh.” The litigant then used the profile to befriend the target, a teenager named Megan Meier, age of 13 years, this same girl who attended the same school as Drew’s also teenage girl. After becoming friends “Josh” proceeded to messaging rude and hurtful comments to Megan. Megan was hurt more by this than probably expected and took her own life. The district court of Missouri discovered that it was not possible to link Drew to be responsible for the torment provoking Megan’s death because of irrelevant situations and absence of lawful inclusion. Nonetheless, because of community exclamation, lawful attorneys took action and applied the “Computer Fraud and Abuse” act into the mix. This was more of an act that was applied to accuse someone of technological robbery, this time though it is to utilize MySpace conditions of use. The conditions of use entail that those who use it follow a “host of regulations” which in the exact...
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...them connected to people at all hours of the day. There are many different ways in which cyberbullies reach their victims, including instant messaging over the Internet, social networking web sites, text messaging and phone calls to cell phones. There are different forms of cyberbullying including, but not limited to, harassment, impersonation, and cyberstalking. It has been found that there are differences between not only the prevalence of cyberbullying between males and females but also the ways in which males and females cyberbully. Like bullying, cyberbullying is a serious problem which can cause the victim to feel inadequate and overly self-conscious, along with the possibility of committing suicide due to being cyberbullied. Two such cases are included in this paper. There are numerous ways in which schools and parents can prevent cyberbullying and ways in which they can intervene if it has occurred. iii The Graduate School University of Wisconsin Stout Menomonie, WI Acknowledgments First of all I would like to thank my parents for always...
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...people at all hours of the day. There are many different ways in which cyberbullies reach their victims, including instant messaging over the Internet, social networking web sites, text messaging and phone calls to cell phones. There are different forms of cyberbullying including, but not limited to, harassment, impersonation, and cyberstalking. It has been found that there are differences between not only the prevalence of cyberbullying between males and females but also the ways in which males and females cyberbully. Like bullying, cyberbullying is a serious problem which can cause the victim to feel inadequate and overly self-conscious, along with the possibility of committing suicide due to being cyberbullied. Two such cases are included in this paper. There are numerous ways in which schools and parents can prevent cyberbullying and ways in which they can intervene if it has occurred. The Graduate School University of Wisconsin Stout Menomonie, WI Acknowledgments iii...
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