Will Megan’s Law work here?

The teen, who was due to write her CXC exams within a few weeks, was never again seen alive. Exactly a month after her disappearance, on April 22, her skeletal remains were dug out of a shallow grave just a few feet away from where she disappeared. She had been raped and murdered, investigators revealed.

The suspect, a 25-year-old convicted sex offender, had been released from prison last December after serving a three-year prison term for indecent assault and had been the focus of sex crime investigations on at least five occasions. He had been living just a short distance from Pixie’s home at La Brea Trace.

Pixie’s parents, Surujdai and Rampersad Lakhan, have called for a Sex Offenders Registry, similar to a system currently operating in the United States, to be established in Trinidad and Tobago.

That system, known as Megan’s Law, was passed in the US in 1996. It requires that convicted sex offenders register with local police. It also established a three-tier notification process to provide information about sex offenders to law enforcement agencies and, when appropriate, to the public.

The US law was prompted by the brutal rape and murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka. On July 19, 1994, Megan disappeared from her home in New Jersey. With the promise of a puppy, her neighbour, a convicted sex offender, lured her into his home where he raped, strangled and suffocated her. Her body was stuffed into a plastic toy chest and dumped in a nearby park.

Megan’s killer was a two-time convicted paedophile who lived across the street from the Kanka home. He was sharing his house with two other convicted sex offenders he met in prison.

Sparked by community outrage, petitions began circulating throughout New Jersey demanding the right to be made aware of sexual predators. Megan’s parents, Maureen and Richard Kanka, gathered more than 430,000 and 89 days after Megan’s disappearance, the first state law that mandated active community notification was signed into law in New Jersey.

The Kankas also lobbied to put into place a federal law requiring all 50 states to notify the community of the presence of sex offenders who posed a risk to public safety. They were joined in their efforts by powerful advocates such as Marc Klaas, Patty Wetterling, John Walsh and others. On May 17, 1996, a federal version of Megan’s law was signed by then US President Bill Clinton. One aspect of Megan’s Law requires the registration of offenders guilty of sex crimes against children.

Supporters of the law say sex offenders pose a high risk of re-offending after release from custody and that the privacy of persons convicted of sex offences are less important than public safety. It is also believed that release of certain information about sex offenders to public agencies and the general public will assist in protecting the public safety.

The law gives states the discretion to establish criteria for disclosure but compels them to make private and personal information on registered sex offenders available to the public. This assists law enforcement officials in investigations and establishes legal grounds to hold known sex offenders.

Sex offenders who have been released from custody since Megan’s Law went into effort are required to register with the police. In addition, offenders who were on parole or probation on the effective date of the law, as well as offenders who have been found to be repetitive and compulsive, regardless of the date of sentence, are required to register.

US authorities say the system deters sex offenders from committing new sex offences and offers citizens information they can use to protect children from registered sex offenders, child molesters and victimisation.

However, Megan’s Law does not enjoy widespread popularity in the US. There are some who claim there are serious flaws in the law which create loopholes for abuse and exploitation of the system.

One expert, Robert E Freeman-Longo, who has written extensively on Megan’s Law, describes it as an example of legislation passed quickly, without securing public opinion. "Numerous problems have occurred, including, among others, innocent families being harassed, victims of sexual abuse being identified, and private residences of law abiding citizens being posted on registries and the Internet, as the residences of sex offenders.

"Some states have applied these laws retroactively, resulting in persons charged with indecent exposure for urinating in public being labelled as sex offenders. Other states have applied registration and notification laws to youth, labelling children as sex offenders for life."

According to Freeman-Longo, the system is costly since it requires continuous monitoring by the police, courts and probation agencies to ensure offender compliance. The initial cost of setting up registration and notification can be as high as US$200,000, with additional costs incurred for maintaining and updating the registries and conducting notification. He claims Megan’s Law has "done little to protect people and prevent crimes."

He further states: "The best way to stop sexual abuse is to prevent it before it begins. Public notification laws are tertiary prevention efforts at best, and the antithesis of prevention at their worst."

In TT, under the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act of 2000, there are provisions covering "Notification Requirements for Sex Offenders." This allows for the creation of a sexual offenders registry but the system has never been enforced here and even police officers are unaware that provisions for such a registry already exist.

Under the local Act, a person convicted of a sex crime must notify the police in writing of their name, address and date of birth. If a sex offender fails to notify the police, he is liable to a fine of $5,000 and/or one year in prison.

However, this law has not been enforced and at present there is no system to keep track of sex offenders after they are released from prison. Under the Act, the public should have access to information on convicted sex offenders but that is not the case, local officials admit.