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                            Funding & Awards
 Megan''s Law:  An Empirical Analysis
Award Information
Awardee
              New Jersey Department of Corrections
Award #
              2006-IJ-CX-0018
Funding Category
              Competitive
Location
                    Trenton, NJ
Awardee County
              Mercer
Congressional District
              12
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2006
Total funding (to date)
              $38,252
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY06 ORE Crime and Justice Research
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2006, $38,252)
This research study seeks to be the first of its kind to assess the empirical efficacy of New Jersey's Megan's Law (in its home state). Megan's Law was enacted in New Jersey in 1994 after the death and sexual molestation of Megan Kanka in Hamilton, New Jersey. President Bill Clinton signed the federal version of Megan's Law in 1996, giving states two years to implement the law, or risk losing federal funding. Today all fifty states have a version of Megan's Law. Despite widespread community and legislative support, there is no empirical evidence that such community notification and registration laws reduce the frequency of sex offenses. Additionally, what is not known is the true cost of implementing Megan's Law and the sex offender registry websites within the criminal justice system. As such, this study will approach the problem with a triangulated methodology. The main study goals are 1) to establish the prevalence of sexual offenses in New Jersey for the five years prior to the implementation of Megan's law and the five years after the inception of Megan's Law, 2) to compare a matched sample of sex offenders who left New Jersey State Prisons (NJSP) prior to Megan's law and were therefore not subject to the law to offenders who were released after the implementation of Megan's law and subject to its provisions, 3) Determine direct costs of program operation since the implementation of Megan's Law.  Additional activities include report/manuscript writing, code book development and dissemination.
ca/ncf



  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Analysis of the Effectiveness of Community Notification and Registration: Do the Best Intentions Predict the Best Practices?
                  Sex Offenses and Offenders Reconsidered: An Investigation of Characteristics and Correlates Over Time
                  Sex Offender Registration and Notification: Research Finds Limited Effects in New Jersey
                  Megan's Law: Assessing the Practical and Monetary Efficacy




  
Grant-Funded Datasets
        
                      http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR26401.v1

  
Date Created: August 30, 2006
    
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