ResearchWire Megan's Law By Genie Tyburski > <A HREF="mailto:tyburski@virtualchase.com">Genie Tyburski</A> is the Web Manager of <A HREF="http://www.virtualchase.com/">The Virtual Chase: A Research Site for > Legal Professionals</A>. > The Web’s impact on information occasionally sparks controversy. Privacy > advocates, for example, challenge existing public records laws that fail to > address, or clearly allow, making personal data available via Web sites. > More recently, Web access to information about sexual offenders incites > debate.In Oregon, several anonymous sex offenders and their families seek > to pull the plug on a State Police Web site that intends to provide names, > photographs, and other information about approximately 8,500 registered sex > offenders in Oregon. While the site has the backing of the state > legislature, the police voluntarily postponed its publication pending a > court’s ruling.In Tennessee, legislation enacted during 1997 mandated > posting information from sex offender registries on the State's official > home page. Later, the Middle District of Tennessee ruled "that the > notification provisions of the Tennessee Sex Offender Registration Act > violates the due process rights of the offender." Consequently, Tennessee > no longer provides access to the registry via the Internet.In Texas, a law > that took effect a few weeks ago permits access to information about > juvenile sex offenders. Already, a search of the <A HREF="http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/">Texas Department of > Public Safety</A> Sex Offender Database found names, addresses, dates of birth, > and even shoe sizes for several registered juvenile sex > offenders.Currently, 12 states -- Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, > Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and > Virginia -- offer sex offender databases from Web sites hosted by official > state servers. Alabama, California (presently offline), Indiana, and West > Virginia provide such access through databases housed on other Web sites. > Moreover, various law enforcement agencies as well as private citizens > publish county or community listings. Most, if not all, are freely > available regardless of the residence of the individual searching for > information.Researchers will find no uniformity amongst sex offender > databases. Some, like those for Alaska, Connecticut, and Florida, provide > photographs as well as physical descriptions, dates of birth, and details > concerning the offense. Virginia provides both home and work addresses > while Indiana offers only the city of residence.Most of the databases > permit zip code or name queries. Kansas allows searching by partial zip > codes while Alaska and Delaware provide for street name or partial address > queries and Indiana permits searching by social security > number.Non-statewide listings range from offering photographs, physical > descriptions and last known addresses to providing only the names of > registered sex offenders. The Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office in Kelso, > Washington, for example, further flags photographs of registered sex > offenders with "wanted" or "incarcerated" status.To find a listing of > offenders in a community for a state not offering Web access to its > registry, first locate the county sheriff's or local police department's > Web site. Discover these local law enforcement Web pages via their > respective county or municipality Web sites. Find county or municipality > sites with resources like <A HREF="http://www.piperinfo.com/state/states.html">State and Local Government on the Net</A>.Or conduct > a search combining terms like the name of the community with "sex > offender," "megan's law," "community notification," or "offender registry." > For example, the query -- yuma sex offenders -- at Google finds a site > that appears to be maintained by the <A HREF="http://www.primenet.com/~coyypd/sex3.html">Yuma, Arizona Police Department</A>. > http://www.llrx.com/columns/megan.htm Jeffery G. Scism, IBSSG, (http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com) ~~ Coordinator, C h u r c h i l l Nevada U S G e n W e b Site Co-Coordinator, Inmontgo-L, Montgomery County, Indiana, U S G e n W e b Site manager of the following Rootsweb Lists: B l a c k s h e e p, L a n d e s, L a n d i s, P e f f l e y, S c i s m, E n d i c o t t, S h i p w r e c k, Inmontgo (Mont. Co. Indiana), NVChurch (Churchill Co. Nv.)