My Research Question

My topic for my research paper is Megan's Law. This law is named after a 7 year old girl, Megan Kanka, who was raped and murdered by a neighbor who was a convicted sex offender. Megan's Laws require that people in the community be notified when a sex offender moves into the area. I haven't decided for sure which issue to discuss; I can debate whether it is fair to the sex offenders to pass such laws or I can discuss the effectiveness of these laws and whether they really work in protecting people from possible sex crimes being committed. I have selected this issue because it is an issue that is very interesting to me, and it is also very two-sided. I feel some sympathy for the offenders, as they could have been convicted of something that was completely unintentional, or something that would never happen again, making it somewhat unfair that for the rest of their lives they have to be labeled as a sex offender. For example, if a man had non-forcible sexual relations at the age of 19 with a girlfriend who was, say, 16, he could be charged with statutory rape, and be labeled a sex offender for life. According to Megan's Law, the entire community may be notified of his presence, and he may be ostracized, harrassed, etc. for being "dangerous." However, if a man has a history of sexual crimes, he may be very likely to repeat them, therefore making him truly dangerous to those around him. In such a case, it seems fair that people are made aware of his presence, in order to protect their children, daughters, girlfriends, and wives. I could look at the laws from another perspective, though. I could research how effective the laws are in minimizing the number of sexual crimes being committed. At the moment, I think I'm leaning towards the research question of whether community notification laws, especially Megan's Laws, are fair to the sex offenders being punished by them.