In 1994, seven-year-old Megan Kanka was brutally raped and murdered in New Jersey by previously registered sex offenders.  A sex offender is a person who committed and was convicted of a sexual crime.  This horrific tragedy caused the public to demand broad based community notification because the Community Protection Act of 1990 was not sufficiently notifying the public of sex offenders in the community.[1]
 
           All states passed their own form of Megan's Law and sponsor internet access to the public regarding information about sex offenders.  Passed federally in 1996, Megan's Law required local law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders in their communities.  Detailed, personal information about each sex offender is visible to the public in each state.  This information includes:
            1. Detailed maps centered on the street address one inputs, the offenders' home addresses indicated on
            the map.
            2.Full names, aliases, and addresses of the offenders.
            3. Color photos of the offenders (in most states).
            4. A description of the crime committed by each offender.
            5. The ability to check any address including schools, day care centers, and home of relatives and friends."[2]
 
            Sex offenders do not appear different from the general public; they look like regular people.  Megan's Law is not to impose punishment or give permission to harass sex offenders; sex offenders have the right to report hate crimes.  Members of a community, however, may issue pamphlets to neighbors as a precautionary warning when they discover that a sex offender has moved into the area.

[1] http://www.megans-law.net/

[2] https://www.meganslaw.com/