Megan's Law
Megan's Law - A Brief History
In 1995, a convicted child molester was arrested for the murder and rape of 7-year-old Megan Kanka in a New Jersey suburb. The offender lived right across the street from the Kanka residence, however, the Police Department was prohibited from disclosing the presence of this child molester because at the time, the law did not allow the release of sex offender information to the public.
On May 17, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed to law the first federal version of Megan's Law stating "From now on, every state in the country will be required by law to tell a community when a dangerous sexual predator enters its midst."
Authored by Congressman Dick Zimmer, Megan's Law requires every state to develop a procedure for notifying concerned people when a person convicted of certain crimes is released near their homes. The law has been amended several times since the original bill was passed, and different states have different procedures for making the required disclosures.
Click Here for South Carolina Law Enforcement's Sex Offender Registry.