Jesse Timmendequas is charged with the murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka in New Jersey. Kanka's death inspired Megan's Law, a statute enacted in 1994 requiring that information about convicted sex felons be available to the public. Versions of Megan's Law have been passed in many states since her murder.
Megan had last been seen riding her bike outside her home in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, on July 28. Her parents found her bike on the front lawn and immediately began to search for her. The following day, her body was discovered in Mercer County Park. Jesse Timmendequas, who lived across the street from Kanka and had two prior convictions for sexual assault, was arrested.
In the aftermath of this horrible crime, Megan's parents lobbied state legislators for a new law, arguing that if they had known about Timmendequas' background they would have been able to protect their daughter. New Jersey and several other states passed laws following the public outcry. A database of all types of sex offenders is now accessible through a 900 number and CD-ROMs at police stations around the state.
Yet problems have arisen from Megan's Law. Apparently inspired by the circulation of flyers describing his previous sexual offense, Michael Patton committed suicide in July 1998. In addition, homosexuals who were prosecuted years earlier for consensual sex with adults must be registered in this database. People in some communities have driven sex offenders out of town, often using violence and illegal means. Evidence as to the ability of Megan's Law to actually protect children or deter crime was inconclusive in the first few years of its enactment.
Similar Laws
Ontario's Ontario Sex Offender Registry was sparked by the brutal 1988 murder of 11-year-old Christopher Stephenson at the hands of Joseph Fredericks a convicted pedophile on federal statutory release. At the 1993 inquest into Christopher's death, the coroner's jury recommended creating a national registry for convicted sex offenders, requiring them to register with their local police service.
Christopher's death highlighted the need to provide police services with greater ability to monitor sex offenders in our communities. Agreeing with the jury's recommendations, the Government of Ontario took the initiative and introduced legislation to create Canada's first provincial registry of convicted sex offenders.
With the encouragement and support of the Stephenson family, victims' groups and law enforcement organizations, Christopher's Law (Ontario Sex Offender Registry 2000) was proclaimed on April 23, 2001, making the Ontario Sex Offender Registry a reality.
A Canadian national sex offender registry
A key problem with Ontario's registry is that police can't keep track of people who move to other provinces, where they don't have to register as a sex offender.
"When people who are on the registry in Ontario move to Saskatchewan or wherever, they're not registered again," said Conservative MP Randy White. "So they can escape the registry just by leaving Ontario. Unless you have a national registry with guidelines, it's not going to work as well."
In March 2001, then-federal Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay said there was no need for a national sex offender registry because the computer system police used to track criminals was sufficient.
Police disagreed, saying the system could be improved because it didn't track the addresses of sexual offenders. They said the system used in the United States allows speedier access to information by forcing offenders to register.
Alberta made noise about setting up its own registry as well, but opted instead to list information about some high-risk offenders on a government website that any member of the public can read.
Other provinces considered their own databases. In April 2001, British Columbia approved legislation to set up a registry. Saskatchewan, however, said it would wait for the federal government to act before it made a decision on the matter.
Meanwhile, Ontario continued to put pressure on the federal government. Ontario's former premier, Mike Harris, said his province would help other provinces set up a registry by sharing its software and by offering them legal advice. Harris also said that if the federal government didn't set up and pay for a national sex offender registry, the government of Ontario would.
On February 14, 2002, Ottawa changed its stand and agreed to set up a national sex offender registry. In December of that year, Ottawa introduced legislation to create the registry. The law was given royal assent on April 1, 2004 and the registry came into effect on December 15, 2004.
Unlike Ontario's registry, the national registry won't be retroactive. In other words, people convicted for sex crimes before the law came into effect won't be included - not those in jail, not those already released.
Offenders will be added as court officials from the provinces determine who should be on the list from among the population of prisoners being released or finishing conditional sentences in the community.
The information will be available to police forces nationwide through the Canadian Police Information Centre database, and will include fingerprints and physical descriptions, as well as photographs, in some cases.
In cases where officials believe the community is at risk from a certain person, individual police forces can decide to issue a public warning.
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