Are so called Megan's laws a good idea? Most definitely; Megan's law is designed to help protect a community by providing information about convicted sex offenders. The commonly known New Jersey law, "Megan's law", originated when the parents of seven year old Megan Kanka of Hamilton Township were not aware of the twice convicted sex offender living across the street until that neighbor brutally raped and murdered their daughter. The crime occurred only months after a similar incident in my hometown, Manalapan Township. In March of 1994, nineteen year old Kevin Aquino had woken his six year old neighbor, Amanda Wengert up and kidnapped her because he "wanted sex." He had put his hand over her mouth and punched her in the head to knock her out. He then preceded to smash her head up against a tree which terminated her life. During that time I remember coming across information that Aquino used to "peep" on young girls in the grammar school bathroom that I use to attend. He was arrested for voyeurism. As an end result, Aquino will not see a parole board before he is seventy-four years old.
             This law established a three-tier notification process to provide information about offenders to law enforcement agencies and when appropriate, to the public. The type of notification is based on an evaluation of the risk to the community from a particular offender. The offenses that require notification are aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, endangering the welfare of a child by engaging in sexual conduct which would impair or debauch the morals of a child, luring or enticing and, if the victim were a minor and the offender not a parent, kidnapping, criminal restraint and false imprisonment.
             I believe that this law is an extremely effective punishment for the offender, at least psychologically. For example, if the offender decided to reestablish his/her life after jail, he/sh...