Megan’s Law poorly enforced

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A review of state police monitoring of sexually violent predators under Megan’s Law found that community notification about these felons is often “incorrect, late and ineffective,” Pennsylvania’s chief auditor says.

The head of the state police says the agency is making efforts to improve the administration of the Megan’s Law registry.

Convicted sex offenders classified as sexually violent predators are considered to have a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes them likely to reoffend. They are subject to more stringent monitoring than the wider class of 6,210 sex offenders in Pennsylvania.

The review identified shortcomings in notifying the public on the whereabouts of 13 out of 17 sexually violent predators who had home addresses in the state during a nine-month period that ended in January, state Auditor General Robert P. Casey Jr. said Friday. Currently, Pennsylvania has 31 sexually violent predators, but 12 of them are in state prisons.

In seven of the 17 cases, the study found that schools and child care centers had not been told a violent predator was living nearby. One predator came to the attention of police only when he contacted them. In another instance, state police told local police about a violent predator only after he had left the area.

Notice was eventually made about all 17, but Mr. Casey said delays — in one case, notification was more than nine months late — violated the law’s requirement for timely notice.

Mr. Casey urged the state police to review its management of the Megan’s Law registry, improve training and establish a toll-free hot line to help communities implement the law.

“The state police should not wait for the audit to be done to bring about changes to the sexually violent predator category,” Mr. Casey said.

State police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said Friday the agency is working to improve the program.

A fourth officer will move to the department’s Megan’s Law bureau, and the agency is working to free up headquarters staff to focus on notification.

Commissioner Miller also said the department is seeking a change in state law so that judges will provide sexual offenders’ sentencing orders to state police immediately.

Mr. Casey recently lost an attempt to force state police to disclose details about its monitoring of all Megan’s Law sex offenders. A court ruled that the state’s Megan’s Law requires public release of information only about sexually violent predators.

Mr. Casey sought the records after the Associated Press reported in January 2003 that California had lost track of more than 33,000 convicted sex offenders, despite a law requiring rapists and child molesters to register each year.

The child-advocacy group Parents for Megan’s Law since then has found that states across the country have lost track of thousands of sex offenders.

Megan’s Law is named for a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was kidnapped, raped and killed in 1994 by a convicted sex offender who lived in her neighborhood.