Megan S Law

Lou Ellen Griffin, who became a nationally known advocate for Megan's Law and missing and exploited children after the murder of her son in 1982, died Tuesday of lung cancer at her Cockeysville home. She was 78. The last time Mrs. Griffin and her husband, Norville R. Griffin, saw their 17-year-old son, James R. "Jamie" Griffin, alive was on the morning of April 2, 1982, as he prepared to drive his car to Dulaney High School, where he was a senior honor student. Jamie was seen later that day at a Joppa shopping center with Michael Whittlesey, a schoolmate and friend who had been a frequent guest at the Griffin family home on Falls Road.

Lou Ellen Griffin, who became a nationally known advocate for Megan's Law and missing and exploited children after the murder of her son in 1982, died Tuesday of lung cancer at her Cockeysville home. She was 78. The last time Mrs. Griffin and her husband, Norville R. Griffin, saw their 17-year-old son, James R. "Jamie" Griffin, alive was on the morning of April 2, 1982, as he prepared to drive his car to Dulaney High School, where he was a senior honor student. Jamie was seen later that day at a Joppa shopping center with Michael Whittlesey, a schoolmate and friend who had been a frequent guest at the Griffin family home on Falls Road.

When the Virginia State Police began publishing the names and addresses of the state's violent sex offenders on the Internet Dec. 29, law enforcement officials thought a few extra citizens might log onto their normally peaceful Web site.What they got was a stampede -- more than 260,000 visitors in the first week, enough to make the Web site all but inaccessible for several days.Maryland authorities, who keep their list of sex offenders on paper, are pondering whether to put theirs online too. "We'll be watching what happens in Virginia with great interest," said Leonard A. Sipes Jr., spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which maintains the state's master list of sex offenders.

Nearly one in five sex offenders might not live at the addresses listed for them in the state registry designed to inform communities of rapists, child predators and other such criminals in their midst, according to numbers provided by the state. The problems in accounting for the whereabouts of the more than 4,300 offenders in the online database were illustrated this week when the address listed for a convicted rapist who is accused of killing his 13-year-old stepdaughter in Essex was found to be misspelled and unconfirmed.

Suspicion found company quickly as the scarlet letter made the rounds in a Timonium neighborhood this summer. Neighbors called neighbors to trade and confirm information.Of course they know the man. He's a neighbor on Patann Street. But is it true?"We have been notified that an offender has moved into your area. The below listed individual is a convicted child sexual offender," said the letter, sent by the Girl Scouts to 275 families in Timonium's 21903 ZIP code.We have been notified that an offender has moved into your area.

Perhaps "Megan's Law" should be renamed "Muddled Law."Three months after President Clinton signed a law requiring some neighborhood notification when child sex offenders move in, few of the hundreds of Maryland offenders have registered with police, and problems have popped up across the state.Many Marylanders don't know that child molesters are living in their neighborhoods -- or that the law enables them to find out. Police often do not notify neighbors about offenders. And some offenders say they received incorrect information about registration requirements.

WASHINGTON -- Giving states the authority to control sex offenders after they leave prison, the Supreme Court upheld yesterday states' power to hold a violent child molester indefinitely in a mental institution.Even if an offender's violent tendencies can never be cured, the court said that long-term confinement in an institution is a valid way to assure that he or she will not again engage in sexual assault. Such confinement, the justices said, does not violate the constitutional right against double punishment for the same crime.

WASHINGTON -- Megan's Law -- the New Jersey law that became a model for a nationwide effort to notify communities when a convicted sex offender moves in -- withstood a broad constitutional challenge in the Supreme Court yesterday.In declining to hear the challenge, the court assured supporters of "Megan's Laws" in states across the country, including Maryland, that the laws could continue in force. In a separate order, the court turned aside a similar challenge to New York's version of Megan's Law.Although the court gave no reasons for its action, it appeared to be waiting for lower courts to ponder the issue further, to see whether they disagree about the constitutionality of such laws.

Efforts to advertise the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders would expand onto the Internet in Maryland under legislation being considered in the General Assembly.One of the bills debated at a Senate hearing yesterday would require state officials to build a Web site that would allow easy access to Maryland's registry of approximately 500 rapists, child molesters and violent sexual predators.The proposal would add Maryland to 12 states that post the names and addresses of such offenders on the Internet.

Nearly one in five sex offenders might not live at the addresses listed for them in the state registry designed to inform communities of rapists, child predators and other such criminals in their midst, according to numbers provided by the state. The problems in accounting for the whereabouts of the more than 4,300 offenders in the online database were illustrated this week when the address listed for a convicted rapist who is accused of killing his 13-year-old stepdaughter in Essex was found to be misspelled and unconfirmed.

Maryland risks losing about $1 million in federal crime-fighting dollars unless it broadens its sex-offender registration law, the U.S. Justice Department says. State officials say they expect to take action before any of the grant money is lost. "We do believe we are in compliance with the law. However, we also believe this will be solved in this General Assembly session - in time to convince the Department of Justice not to impose any penalty," said Leonard A. Sipes Jr., spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Efforts to advertise the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders would expand onto the Internet in Maryland under legislation being considered in the General Assembly.One of the bills debated at a Senate hearing yesterday would require state officials to build a Web site that would allow easy access to Maryland's registry of approximately 500 rapists, child molesters and violent sexual predators.The proposal would add Maryland to 12 states that post the names and addresses of such offenders on the Internet.

When the Virginia State Police began publishing the names and addresses of the state's violent sex offenders on the Internet Dec. 29, law enforcement officials thought a few extra citizens might log onto their normally peaceful Web site.What they got was a stampede -- more than 260,000 visitors in the first week, enough to make the Web site all but inaccessible for several days.Maryland authorities, who keep their list of sex offenders on paper, are pondering whether to put theirs online too. "We'll be watching what happens in Virginia with great interest," said Leonard A. Sipes Jr., spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which maintains the state's master list of sex offenders.

WASHINGTON -- We are a very confused and troubled society when it comes to crime and punishment, especially when childhood or mental illness are involved.We go to inexplicable lengths to protect a 13-year-old who commits cold-blooded murder, but we electrocute a 35-year-old who has the mental faculties of a 5-year-old. It is as though body size is a mitigating or aggravating factor in major crimes.Megan's lawIn some places, such as Arkansas, we put a teen-age killer in "juvenile detention," but decree that the state must let him walk free at age 21. That is probably like sending a youngster to a criminal's finishing school, then giving him a shingle under which he can practice his craft in adulthood.

WASHINGTON -- Megan's Law -- the New Jersey law that became a model for a nationwide effort to notify communities when a convicted sex offender moves in -- withstood a broad constitutional challenge in the Supreme Court yesterday.In declining to hear the challenge, the court assured supporters of "Megan's Laws" in states across the country, including Maryland, that the laws could continue in force. In a separate order, the court turned aside a similar challenge to New York's version of Megan's Law.Although the court gave no reasons for its action, it appeared to be waiting for lower courts to ponder the issue further, to see whether they disagree about the constitutionality of such laws.

Suspicion found company quickly as the scarlet letter made the rounds in a Timonium neighborhood this summer. Neighbors called neighbors to trade and confirm information.Of course they know the man. He's a neighbor on Patann Street. But is it true?"We have been notified that an offender has moved into your area. The below listed individual is a convicted child sexual offender," said the letter, sent by the Girl Scouts to 275 families in Timonium's 21903 ZIP code.We have been notified that an offender has moved into your area.

Needed changes will toughen Megan's LawIn 1995 the Maryland General Assembly joined 40 other states and enacted "Megan's Law" to make convicted sex offenders who prey on children register their whereabouts with the local police in the county in which they reside.Offenders must register each year for 10 years.Megan's Law was named after Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old New Jersey child who was raped and strangled by a convicted sex offender who lived across the street from her.The aim of the law, which became effective Oct. 1, 1995, is to help police keep tabs on convicted child abusers and to let Marylanders know if a molester has moved into the neighborhood.

Maryland risks losing about $1 million in federal crime-fighting dollars unless it broadens its sex-offender registration law, the U.S. Justice Department says. State officials say they expect to take action before any of the grant money is lost. "We do believe we are in compliance with the law. However, we also believe this will be solved in this General Assembly session - in time to convince the Department of Justice not to impose any penalty," said Leonard A. Sipes Jr., spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

WASHINGTON -- Giving states the authority to control sex offenders after they leave prison, the Supreme Court upheld yesterday states' power to hold a violent child molester indefinitely in a mental institution.Even if an offender's violent tendencies can never be cured, the court said that long-term confinement in an institution is a valid way to assure that he or she will not again engage in sexual assault. Such confinement, the justices said, does not violate the constitutional right against double punishment for the same crime.