An Analysis of the Sex Offender Registry's Impact on Public Policy

In the United States, nearly every state requires that criminals who have committed sexual offenses to register in a public registry, along with sometimes requiring that the communities these offenders live in be notified of their crimes. The main law which requires public registration of sex offenders is often referred to as Megan’s law. The laws requiring community notification are often separate but are normally seen under the umbrella of Megan’s law. In this paper we will examine the societal impacts of these laws, including the cost of implementation and maintenance, along with the actual impact on offenders themselves including recidivism rates. We will also examine the political third-rail which maintaining a dissenting opinion towards the implementation of these laws has become, and the effect of this on the spread of the laws