[House Report 104-555]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
104th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session 104-555
_______________________________________________________________________
MEGAN'S LAW
_______
May 6, 1996.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______________________________________________________________________
Mr. McCollum, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the
following
R E P O R T
together with
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
[To accompany H.R. 2137]
The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the
bill (H.R. 2137) to amend the Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act of 1994 to require the release of relevant
information to protect the public from sexually violent
offenders, having considered the same, report favorably thereon
with an amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do
pass.
The amendment is as follows:
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu
thereof the following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as ``Megan's Law''.
SEC. 2. RELEASE OF INFORMATION AND CLARIFICATION OF PUBLIC NATURE OF
INFORMATION.
Section 170101(d) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement
Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 1407(d)) is amended to read as follows:
``(d) Release of Information.--
``(1) The information collected under a State registration
program may be disclosed for any purpose permitted under the
laws of the State.
``(2) The designated State law enforcement agency and any
local law enforcement agency authorized by the State agency
shall release relevant information that is necessary to protect
the public concerning a specific person required to register
under this section, except that the identity of a victim of an
offense that requires registration under this section shall not
be released.''.
Purpose and Summary
This bill would amend a provision enacted as part of the
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Public
Law 103-322). Title XVII of that Act, the ``Jacob Wetterling
Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender
Registration Act'' (42 U.S.C. 14071), requires States to
implement a system where all persons who commit sexual or
kidnapping crimes against children or who commit sexually
violent crimes against any person (whether adult or child) are
required to register their addresses with the State upon their
release from prison. The 1994 Act also provides that law
enforcement agencies may release ``relevant information'' about
an offender if they deem it necessary to protect the public.
This bill will require the release of such information when law
enforcement officials deem it to be necessary to protect the
public.
While the 1994 Act does not mandate that States comply
with its provisions, a State's failure to implement such a
system by September 1997 will result in that State losing part
of its annual federal crime-fighting funding.
Background and Need for the Legislation
Perhaps no type of crime has received more attention in
recent years than crimes against children involving sexual acts
and violence. Several recent tragic cases have focused public
attention on this type of crime and resulted in public demand
that government take stronger action against those who commit
these crimes.
In partial response to this demand, Congress passed Title
XVII of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of
1994 (Public Law 103-322). That title, the ``Jacob Wetterling
Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender
Registration Act,'' attempted to address the concerns about
these crimes by encouraging States to establish a system where
every person who commits a sexual or kidnapping crime against
children or who commit sexually violent crimes against any
person (whether adult or child) would be required to register
his or her address with the State upon their release from
prison. As a further protection, the 1994 Act required States
to allow law enforcement agencies to release ``relevant
information'' about an offender if they deemed it necessary to
protect the public.
The 1994 Act provision with respect to notification only
required States to give law enforcement agencies the discretion
to release offender registry information when they deemed it
necessary to protect the public. It has been brought to the
attention of the Committee, however, that notwithstanding the
clear intent of Congress that relevant information about these
offenders be released to the public in these situations, some
law enforcement agencies are still reluctant to do so. This
bill would amend the 1994 Act to mandate that States require
their law enforcement agencies to release ``relevant
information'' in all cases when they deem it ``necessary to
protect the public.''
The bill also amends the 1994 Act to provide that
information collected under a State registration program may be
disclosed for any purpose permitted under the laws of that
State. The 1994 Act required that information collected by the
registration program be kept confidential. In some instances
this requirement limited public access to what had been public
records before the 1994 Act became law. H.R. 2137 will correct
this unintended consequence of the 1994 Act by allowing each
State to determine the extent to which the public may gain
access to the information kept by the State.
Hearings
The Committee's Subcommittee on Crime held one day of
hearings on H.R. 2137 on March 7, 1996. Testimony was received
from two witnesses, Representative Dick Zimmer of New Jersey,
the sponsor of H.R. 2137, and Kevin Di Gregory, Deputy
Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, with no
additional material submitted.
Committee Consideration
On March 21, 1996, the Subcommittee on Crime met in open
session and ordered reported the bill H.R. 2137, as amended, by
a voice vote, a quorum being present. On April 25, 1996, the
Committee met in open session and ordered reported favorably
the bill H.R. 2137, without amendment, by a voice vote, a
quorum being present.
Vote of the Committee
There were no recorded votes in Committee with respect to
this bill.
Committee Oversight Findings
In compliance with clause 2(l)(3)(A) of rule XI of the
Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee reports
that the findings and recommendations of the Committee, based
on oversight activities under clause 2(b)(1) of rule X of the
Rules of the House of Representatives, are incorporated in the
descriptive portions of this report.
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight Findings
No findings or recommendations of the Committee on
Government Reform and Oversight were received as referred to in
clause 2(l)(3)(D) of rule XI of the Rules of the House of
Representatives.
New Budget Authority and Tax Expenditures
Clause 2(l)(3)(B) of House Rule XI is inapplicable because
this legislation does not provide new budgetary authority or
increased tax expenditures.
Committee Cost Estimate
In compliance with clause 7(a) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, the Committee sets forth, with
respect to the bill, H.R. 2137, the following cost estimate for
the next five fiscal years.
The Committee estimates that the costs associated with the
implementation of H.R. 2137 will not be substantial. A
significant number of variables are associated with the States'
costs as a result of the bill's implementation. For example,
the number of offenders released from prison subject to
notification requirements will vary from one State to another.
Also, methods of notification will be different depending upon
the nature of the community involved. It is important to note
that the bill does not impose conditions on federal funds to
the States beyond what was contained in the 1994 Act.
While States which choose to comply with the bill will be
required to give public notice as to the residence of certain
offenders, the frequency of this notice will depend upon when
offenders subject to the reporting requirement are released, a
fact which cannot be estimated. Also, under current law, State
law enforcement officials have the discretion as to the type of
notice to be given to the public, a fact that further
complicates any estimate of the costs of this bill.
Inflationary Impact Statement
Pursuant to clause 2(l)(4) of rule XI of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the Committee estimates that H.R.
2137 will have no significant inflationary impact on prices and
costs in the national economy.
Section-by-Section Analysis
Sec. 1. Title. Section 1 states the short title of the bill
as ``Megan's Law.''
Sec. 2. Release of Information and Clarification of Public
Nature of Information. Section 2 restates the entire text of
section 170101(d) of the Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14071(d)) as amended by the
bill. Specifically that section of title 42 will now provide
that States must requires law enforcement agencies to release
``relevant information that is necessary to protect the
public'' in all cases in order to comply with the 1994 Act and
not lose the federal crime fighting funds tied to compliance
with the Act. In other words, whenever State law enforcement
officials believe that releasing relevant information about an
offender required to register with the State's offender
registry would be necessary to protect the public, they must
release that information in order to comply with the 1994 Act.
Section 2 also amends current law with respect to the
question of whether information collected in a State's offender
registry will be treated as public or private information. The
1994 Act required States to treat all such information as
private data. However, some States had already established
policies pursuant to State's law whereby some of the
information was available to the public. H.R. 2137 amends the
1994 law to provide that each State may decide to what extent
information in its State offender registry will be made
available to the public.
Agency Views
The Committee received a letter from Andrew Fois, Assistant
Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, providing
Administration views on H.R. 2137 and other bills. The letter
addressed the issues presented in H.R. 2137, in pertinent part,
as follows:
h.r. 2137--megan's law
H.R. 2137 would require the release of relevant information
to protect the public from child molesters and other sexually
violent offenders. The Department of Justice supports the
enactment of this legislation.
The Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually
Violent Offender Registration Act provides a financial
incentive for States to establish effective registration system
for released child molesters and other sexually violent
offenders. States that fail to establish conforming
registration systems will be subject to a 10 percent reduction
of formula Byrne Grant funding, and resulting surplus funds
will be reallocated to States that are in compliance. The
current provisions of the Jacob Wetterling Act permit, but do
not require, States to release relevant registration
information that is necessary to protect the public concerning
persons required to register.
H.R. 2137 would make the disclosure of registration
information necessary to protect the public mandatory rather
than permissive under the Act's standards. The Department of
Justice supports the reform. Where a State has information
through its registration system concerning a child molester or
other sexually violent criminal who poses a continuing danger
to others, the State should not withhold this information from
persons who need it for the security of themselves and their
families. A number of States already provide for community
notification or other forms of disclosure in appropriate
circumstances, and the change in the Jacob Wetterling
provisions proposed in H.R. 2137 would encourage additional
States to adopt such measures.
In the Department's proposed guidelines for the Jacob
Wetterling Act (60 Fed. Reg. 18617, April 12, 1995), we have
explained that the Act accords States discretion concerning the
standards and procedures to be applied in determining whether a
registering offender constitutes a danger to the public, and
concerning the nature and extent of disclosure necessary to
protect the public from such an offender. H.R. 2137 makes the
``public safety'' disclosure provision of the Act mandatory--
changing ``may'' to ``shall''--but does not otherwise change
the language of this provision.
Hence, States will need to provide for such disclosure
following the enactment of H.R. 2137 to comply with the Act,
but they will retain discretion concerning specific standards
and procedures and the nature and extent of disclosure in
implementing this requirement. For example, New Jersey's
multitiered system for classifying offenders based on risk and
making varying degrees of disclosure on the basis of that
classification would be consistent with the ``public safety''
disclosure provision of the Jacob Wetterling Act as amended by
H.R. 2137.
In addition to endorsing the particular change proposed in
H.R. 2137, we recommend an additional amendment to the
provision of the Jacob Wetterling Act relating to the release
of information. Section 170101(d) of the Jacob Wetterling Act
provides that information collected under State registration
programs ``shall be treated as private data,'' subject to three
exceptions--disclosure to law enforcement agencies for law
enforcement purposes, disclosure to government agencies
conducting confidential background checks, and disclosure for
public safety reasons (as discussed above).
The requirement that registration information generally be
created as private data is not necessary or helpful in
realizing the objectives of the Jacob Wetterling Act, and it
imposes a limitation on the States that did not exist prior to
the enactment of the Jacob Wetterling Act. We see no reason why
States should not generally be free to make their own decisions
concerning the extent to which registration data should or
should not be treated as private data, as they have been in the
past.
We accordingly recommend deletion of the provision that
information collected under State registration systems is
generally to be treated as private data. This change, together
with the change proposed in H.R. 2137, could be implemented by
revising subsection (d) of Sec. 170101 of the Violent Crime
Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to read as follows:
``(d) Release of Information.--(1) The information
collected under a State registration program may be disclosed
for any purpose permitted under the laws of the State.
``(2) The designated State law enforcement agency and any
local law enforcement agency authorized by the State agency
shall release relevant information collected under the
registration program that is necessary to protect the public
concerning a specific person required to register under this
section, provided, that this paragraph shall not be construed
to require the disclosure of the identity of a victim of an
offense that requires registration under this section.''
Beyond the notification issue raised by H.R. 2137,
discussion with the States indicates that some of the more
detailed prescription in the registration provisions of the
Jacob Wetterling Act may impede some State compliance, though
that level of detail may be unnecessary to realize the
essential objectives of the Act. We would be pleased to work
with interested members of Congress to strengthen the Act by
addressing legitimate concerns regarding impediments to
effective State implementation.
Finally, we believe that in conjunction with our efforts to
encourage and strengthen State-based registration systems under
the Jacob Wetterling Act, we should consider developing
additional forms of federal assistance for the States that
would complement and magnify the benefits of the Act.
On at least one front, such assistance already is being
provided. The FBI has developed a powerful tool known as CODIS
to assist States in investigating and solving crimes involving
biological evidence, including particularly serial and stranger
sexual assaults. CODIS (short for ``Combined DNA Index
System'') permits DNA examiners in crime laboratories to
exchange forensic DNA data on an intrastate level, and will
enable States to exchange DNA records among themselves through
the national CODIS system. In the Final Guidelines implementing
the Jacob Wetterling Act, which we plant to publish in the near
future, we encourage States to collect DNA samples from
registering sex offenders to be typed and stored in State DNA
databases, and to participate in CODIS.
In addition, we are exploring a modification to the
National Crime Information Center, which is operated by the
FBI, that would provide further assistance to law enforcement
in this area. Under existing law and administrative
arrangements, the information on sex offenders that is provided
by the FBI is generally limited to ``rap sheet'' information,
and does not include residence address information for the
offenders. The Jacob Wetterling Act contemplates that States
will have central registration authorities that administer
their sex offender registration systems, and will provide
mechanisms for ensuring that address information is kept up to
date when the offender moves elsewhere in the State or to
another State.
However, implementation of these tracking systems will
depend on compliance by the various States with these aspects
of the Jacob Wetterling system. As States comply with Jacob
Wetterling, the resulting databases would be maintained at the
State level.
Currently, the FBI is working with its Criminal Justice
Information Services (CJIS) Advisory Policy Board, which
advises the Director on criminal justice and law enforcement
agency matters, to establish a Sex Offender Registration Index
in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). The FBI is
working on additional technical and legal research related to
this expansion of the NCIC 2000 ``Individuals on Supervised
Release'' database, and expansion of NCIC 2000 to include a
category of records for persons registered under the
requirements of the Jacob Wetterling Act. We anticipate
implementation of the Sex Offender Registration Index in NCIC
2000 sometime after 1999.
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with clause 3 of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):
SECTION 170101 OF THE VIOLENT CRIME CONTROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ACT OF
1994
SEC. 170101. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--
* * * * * * *
[(d) Release of Information.--The information collected
under a State registration program shall be treated as private
data except that--
[(1) such information may be disclosed to law
enforcement agencies for law enforcement purposes;
[(2) such information may be disclosed to government
agencies conducting confidential background checks; and
[(3) the designated State law enforcement agency and
any local law enforcement agency authorized by the
State agency may release relevant information that is
necessary to protect the public concerning a specific
person required to register under this section, except
that the identity of a victim of an offense that
requires registration under this section shall not be
released.]
(d) Release of Information.--
(1) The information collected under a State
registration program may be disclosed for any purpose
permitted under the laws of the State.
(2) The designated State law enforcement agency and
any local law enforcement agency authorized by the
State Agency shall release relevant information that is
necessary to protect the public concerning a specific
person required to register under this section, except
that the identity of a victim of an offense that
requires registration under this section shall not be
released.
* * * * * * *
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
This bill amends the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against
Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act,
enacted as part of the 1994 Crime Bill to require, rather than
permit, states to release certain information regarding persons
convicted of molesting or kidnapping children, and certain
other sex crimes when it is necessary to protect the public.
While we are concerned about the costs of this bill and
query whether this is yet another unfunded mandate, we
understand the impetus behind the legislation. Anyone who has
children certainly would want to know if a convicted child
molester moved in next door.
Nonetheless, we are always concerned about passing
legislation with potential constitutional problems and we
believe that the Committee has not adequately addressed these
concerns with respect to this legislation. A federal district
court has already found a similar statute unconstitutional,
finding the notification provisions to constitute more a form
of punishment than a regulatory scheme, and therefore,
violative of the prohibition on ex post facto clause of the
Constitution.1
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\1\ Artway v. Attorney General, 876 F. Supp. 666, 692 (D. N.J.
1995), aff'd in part, vacated in part, claim dismissed, Nos. 95-5157,
95-5194, 95-5195, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 7573 (3rd Cir. April 12, 1996).
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On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit noted
that the defendant's arguments that the community notification
provisions could expose him to vigilantism and threats, harm
his ability to find and hold a job and subject him to public
shame.2 Nevertheless, the Court declined to rule on the
constitutionality of the notification provision because the
defendant had not registered with the police and the state had
not officially notified anyone about his record. As a result,
the court held that it could not make a decision based on a
hypothetical situation and dismissed the case. 3
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\2\ Artway v. Attorney General, Nos. 95-5157, 95-5194, 95-5195,
1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 7573 (3rd Cir. April 12, 1996).
\3\ Id.
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We share the Third Circuit's concern that this legislation
may lead to harassment and even physical harm against people
who have served their debt to society and this legislation has
the effect of presuming them guilty of some future wrong which
may never be committed. We hope that people will not take the
passage of this legislation as ``open season'' on released
felons. The fact of the matter is that once a person has been
released from prison, they are deemed to have paid their debt
to society. This legislation should not be used to make
citizens into vigilantes who might decide that a particular
offender has not paid enough.
We believe that this matter deserves further consideration,
and hope that the Committee will pay close attention to the
progress of similar legislation through the federal courts.
Rick Boucher.
Bobby Scott.
Melvin L. Watt.
John Conyers, Jr.