The study mentioned in this 2007 article is: "Sex Offender Registration and Notification: Limited Effects in New Jersey" published in 2009 by Kristen M. Zgoba, Ph.D., and Karen Bachar. Since the study New Jersey has not repealed its sex offenders laws nor made any changes to lessen its effect on registrants.5-13-2007 New Jersey:
TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey's pioneering Megan's Law, which costs millions of dollars to alert citizens when sex offenders move nearby, may not make children safer, new research suggests.
A federally funded study under way in Trenton is trying to determine whether Megan's Law is worth the cost of its "enormously expensive" monitoring and enforcement requirements, said Phillip Witt, a consultant on the study.
A declining trend of sex attacks on children began before the law took effect and has continued, raising the suggestion that New Jersey's Megan's Law -- one of the first laws of its kind in the nation -- may not have influenced the trend, researchers say.
"We don't know whether Megan's Law really works," said Witt, who helped create the risk-assessment system used by New Jersey's courts to classify sex offenders.
"Just a few studies have looked at whether community notification laws are effective," he said. "I believe they have very little effect." ..Source.. by Sam Wood, The Philadelphia Inquirer
See also: Human Rights Watch Power Point Presentation
See Also: Megan's Law Might Not Work
One of the authors, Kristen M. Zgoba, Ph.D, of "Sex Offender Registration and Notification: Limited Effects in New Jersey" published in April of 2009, was also involved in the following research:
Dec 2008: Megan’s Law: Assessing the Practical and Monetary Efficacy
Mar 2009: Examining the Impact of Sex Offender Residence Restrictions on Housing Availability
Nov 2009: An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Community Notification and Registration: Do the Best Intentions Predict the Best Practices?
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