Megan’s Law is a federal law that allows the public to have access to the whereabouts of registered sex offenders. However, since 2012 in Pennsylvania, that hasn’t applied to juvenile offenders.
Several state lawmakers from Westmoreland County gathered Thursday to express their desire to change that.
“We are just getting the word out to let people know that there are gaps,” said Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield Township. “The key that we’re identifying here is that there’s a gap in Megan’s Law and communities are not being notified.”
Under Pennsylvania’s current version of Megan’s Law, if a sex offender convicted as a juvenile before 2012 is excused by a judge after a year of a clean record, they can live unsupervised and not show up on the list.
“They could walk into a church, a daycare, a senior home, and these parameters of protection, an employer even doing due diligence will not know,” Nelson said. “Picture a young mom with two kids who’s trying to get to Dollar General. The nice man next door says, ‘I’ll watch the kids, go pick up that milk.'”
As juvenile offenders age out of the judicial system, they’re sent to …
