Tracking sex offenders

In light of recent news of convicted sex offenders suspected of further sex crimes, the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) of July 11, 2005, reported on states' efforts to track these offenders. According to Parents for Megan's Law, a child advocacy group, of over half a million registered sex offenders in the US today, 24 percent are not complying with registration requirements. Since their recidivism rates are "alarmingly high," states have taken specific measures to monitor these criminals. For example, 28 states require community notification. In regional press reports, other ways in which states are tackling this problem are by requiring the "worst" offenders to wear global positioning system (GPS) tracking devices, and establishing buffer zones to keep offenders from living near where children gather, such as schools, day care centers, parks, and school bus stops.

Various bills have been introduced in Congress to address this issue. Two bills, HR95 and S792 in the current 109th Congress, called Dru's Law after Dru Sjodin, specifically establish a national sex offender registration database.

On its web site, the FBI describes the National Sex Offender Registry and provides State Sex Offender Registry Web Sites.