The International Megan’s Law (IML) has negatively impacted registrants’ mobility across five dimensions, according to a newly released academic report. The dimensions are legally, bureaucratically, societally, subjectively and relationally. An advanced copy of that report can be viewed using the link below.
According to the 200-page report, the IML is one part of a U.S. sex offence apparatus that continues to progress towards more unforgiving and counterproductive ends. The IML is the latest integration of domestic crime control databases with international mobility control databases exemplifies a growing immigration control industry presenting new dangers of grave concern.
An important finding within the report is that there is a wide gulf between the government discourse on IML and registrants’ experiences of the law. For example, the number of people in the U.S. convicted of child sex exploitation overseas has actually diminished after passage of the IML from a high of 32 convictions in 2013 to a low of 3 convictions in 2018.
The report includes a few dozen stories of registrants directly affected by the IML in their personal and/or professional lives. For example, one registrant was unable to attend her son’s graduation in another country while another registrant was unable to assist his wife after surgery. Additional registrants were harmed in their business activities, including one registrant who lost his business because he could no longer travel overseas.
“ACSOL thanks the author of this report for her dedication to an important, but unpopular, topic,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “The information in this report provides context for the IML including its failure to achieve its intended result while harming both registrants and their families.”
IML Thesis – Grace Lee – Aug 2021
“An important finding within the report is that there is a wide gulf between the government discourse on IML and registrants’ experiences of the law. For example, the number of U.S. registrants convicted of child sex exploitation overseas has actually diminished after passage of the IML from a high of 32 convictions in 2013 to a low of 3 convictions in 2018.”
This reads like an endorsement for IML. Or am I misreading/interpreting this incorrectly? Is this maybe supposed to say US Citizens rather than Registrants?
IML definitely effects the mobility of sex offenders in America, imagine haveing to register and deregister everytime you stayed somewhere longer then 5 working days or any place that you frequently dwell regardless of how many nights you stayed there.
A couple of months back when i went into the Long Beach Police Department for my annual registration there was A young homeless guy there all dirty, he looked like he was liveing his life on the run, he was confronted by two plain clothes detectives who search him and asked “where have you been sleeping” before taking his ID, this poor guy didn’t even realize he was under investigation by the Long Beach Police Department for Felluer To Register just because he doesn’t have an permanent address, it’s only a matter of time before he slips up and makes a mistake and gets sent to CDC death camps.
Good luck
Thank you Grace Lee !
Grace Lee, who is currently studying in the Netherlands, is a great person, as well as an up and coming scholar.
Learning the FBI classifies people as they do is wrong. Chris Smith needs to be challenged again this next election season about his thinking and numbers on IML. The man is not balanced.
This thesis really drives home the incredible disconnect between the government’s rhetoric as it pertains to sex offender registration laws and the reality of how those laws are enforced.
So the federal government passes entirely unworkable laws requiring states to set up entirely unworkable registries of convicted “sex offenders.” States then add their own unworkable requirements on top of the already unworkable federal requirements and pass enforcement of these monstrosities down to local authorities who are ill-equipped to fairly enforce these laws — and who are often unaware of what the law requires.
Even if a registrant does everything he or she is required to do under the law, there is a chance they still may be charged with a crime because of bureaucratic ignorance or ineptitude.
Covid restrictions have used the example of sex offender registry to start registering vaccination status, and to restrict how people interact in society. “First, they came for the sex offenders…”
My wife is having surgery in Mexico i a few weeks and I cannot be there to help her due to IML. Legislators create loopholes so they don’t violate our rights.
This law is the exact reason I can’t come back the States to visit for a short time. If I just want to stay for a week to shop and see family, there is no protocol in place to inform the Police that I am going to leave before I even get there. I am registered in NY, but I can’t even go to another state like NJ (who have about a 2 week registration requirement) rent a hotel room and then “visit” NY. I would have to arrive, register with the Police and then wait for permission to leave. By that time I would have lost my job. This law was passed with so many things up in the air – like a half-baked cake.
Duh…does not take a rocket scientist to state the plain in your face fact that the IML negatively impacts mobility of registrants.
Although nice of someone to research and document.
But not sure what good that will do because politicians only care about saying and doing whatever the public wants to hear so they can get re-elected so they will never do anything to improve the situation.
And if the highest court thinks the registering is like obtaining a membership at a box club and thinks it is ok to lock people away forever after punishment is served just in case they might commit a future crime, what chance do you think the IML has in front of the highest court even if research shows the IML negatively impacts the mobility of registrants?
I am not negative. I am a realist.