What is Megan's Law?
'''Megan's Law''' is an informal name for [[law]]s in the [[United States]] that require [[law enforcement]] [[Authority|authorities]] to make [[:wikt:information|information]] available to the public regarding registered [[:en:wikt:sex offender|sex offenders]]. It was created after the [[murder of Megan Kanka]].{{cn|date=November 2024}} Individual [[States of the United States|states]] decide what information will be made available and how it should be distributed. Most give out the offender's [[:wikt:name|name]], [[:wikt:picture|picture]], [[:wikt:address|address]], [[Prison]] date, and nature of the [[crime]]. The information is often displayed on free public [[Website|websites]], but can be published in [[Newspaper|newspapers]], distributed in [[Pamphlet|pamphlets]], or through various other means.{{cn|date=November 2024}} == Megan Kanka == Richard and Maurine Kanka and their three [[children]] lived in a small [[town]] in [[New Jersey]].<ref name=Rufo171>Ronald A. Rufo, ''Sexual Predators Amongst Us'' (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2012), p. 171</ref> On 29 July 1994 their daughter Megan was lured into a [[neighbor]]'s house to see a non-existent puppy.<ref name=Rufo171/> There she was [[Rape|raped]] and [[Murder|murdered]] by her [[:en:wikt:abductor|abductor]], Jesse Timmendequas.<ref name=Rufo171/> Timmendequas had just recently been released from prison after his second conviction on sexual offenses against children.<ref>John Douard; Pamela D. Schultz, ''Monstrous Crimes and the Failure of Forensic Psychiatry'', p. 14</ref> He had served six of the ten years of his [[Sentence (law)|sentence]].<ref>''The Congressional Record; proceedings and debates of the 107th Congress, second session'', Vol. 148, Pt. 3 (March 11, 2002 to April 10, 2002), p. 3198</ref> Searches for the girl turned up nothing. The local [[police]] quickly focused on three known sex offenders living across the street from the missing girl.<ref name=Wren290>George J. Wren Jr., ''Jersey Troopers II: The Next Thirty-Five Years (1971-2006)'