Washington State’s 1990 Community Protection Act included America’s first law authorizing public notification when dangerous sex offenders are released into the community. However, it was the brutal 1994 rape and murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka that prompted the public demand for broad based community notification. On May 17, 1996, President Clinton signed Megan's Law. Megan's Law requires the following two components:

Sex Offender Registration – The 1994 Jacob Wetterling Act requires the States to register individuals convicted of sex crimes against children. Sex offender registration laws are necessary because:

• Sex offenders pose a high risk of re-offending after release from custody;
  
• Protecting the public from sex offenders is a primary governmental interest;
  
• The privacy interests of persons convicted of sex offenses are less important than the government’s interest in public safety;
  
• Release of certain information about sex offenders to public agencies and the general public will assist in protecting the public safety.
  

Community Notification – Megan’s Law allows the States discretion to establish criteria for disclosure, but compels them to make private and personal information on registered sex offenders available to the public. Community notification:

• Assists law enforcement in investigations;
  
• Establishes legal grounds to hold known offenders;
  
• Deters sex offenders from committing new offenses;
  
• Offers citizens information they can use to protect children from victimization.
  

Our interactive Megan’s Law map is color coded to reflect Internet access of community notification laws to better serve America’s evolving, fast paced, transient society. Young parents considering day care providers or businesses and organizations whose employees or volunteers have unsupervised access to children require this critical information so that they can make informed choices based on the best information available.

In order to remain current and maintain relevance we ask the public to provide updated information that we may have overlooked, including new, broken or invalid web links so that the KlaasKids Foundation can continue to be the Internet’s premiere Megan’s Law destination.

Accessing Megan's Law - International Efforts - http://www.forsarah.com/html/mainpage.html

Updated 2/7/03

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