{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=400767", "<span class=\"kicker\">Trentonian article on Intl Megan's Law</span>'Over 23 years later, Megans Law is still expanding, this time worldwide'", "2017-11-20", "2017", "2017-11", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "By Jeff Edelstein, Trentonian Staff - \u00a0 It\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s been 23 years since the death of Megan Kanka, the Hamilton 7-year-old who was raped and murdered by a twice-convicted sex offender. It is, without question, the most heinous and brutal crime in modern Mercer County history. It\u2019s something no one who lives around here will ever forget.\r\n\r\n\r\nOf course, the tragedy eventually led to the creation of Megan\u2019s Law, first here in New Jersey, and then across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The premise of the law is simple: When a convicted child sex offender moves into town, they have to register with local authorities and people in the neighborhood are notified by their presence.\r\nI\u2019m all for the law, for the record. It\u2019s just a shame we need it. Because if it was up to me, anyone convicted of molesting a child would never get a chance to \u201cmove into town.\u201d Life imprisonment is fine by me. Heck, you could convince me of the death penalty in certain cases. My rationale is simple: If a society can\u2019t effectively protect its children from predators, it has little business calling itself a society. I harbor no love in my heart for any human who would sexually molest a child. As such, I don\u2019t care about the rights of these people. I don\u2019t care about the fact they\u2019re forever marked wherever they go. They should be marked. The end. (NOTE: OK, maybe not \u201cthe end.\u201d I\u2019m writing this part after original publication, after it was pointed out to me I\u2019m painting with a broad brush. Who I\u2019m talking about specifically, and who I\u2019m talking about after this note, is the true scum, the true pedophile. I\u2019m not talking about 18-year-olds who hooked up with a 14-year-old and are branded sex offenders. That\u2019s not right, and they don\u2019t belong on any list. I\u2019m talking about evil predators. Moving on, then.)\r\n\r\n\r\nBut not everyone agrees. Like the United States Senate. How else to explain the nine years(!) it took Congressman Chris Smith to pass International Megan\u2019s Law, a bill introduced six times before finally being signed by President Barack Obama in 2016. And how else to explain why it took over a year for the passport identifier portion of the program \u2014 in which convicted child molestors have the following imprinted on their passports: \u201cThe bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor and is a covered sex offender pursuant to 22 United States Code Section 212 (c) (i)\u201d \u2014 to finally happen? \r\n\u201cWe got our foot in the door in New Jersey, and now we\u2019re worldwide,\u201d said Richard Kanka, Megan\u2019s father, a statehouse news conference Friday. \u201cThis is a very important day, and I\u2019m excited we\u2019re taking another step forward. It took nine years, and it\u2019s something that\u2019s long overdue.\u201d In short: Megan\u2019s Law is now a worldwide phenomenon.\r\n\r\n\r\nIf a convicted child sex offender is seeking to travel overseas, they must register with the State Department so they can be vetted and so that the State Department can, at their discretion, warn the country the offender is seeking to travel to.\r\n\r\n\r\nSince the signing of the law, the United States has warned over 100 countries that over 3,500 convicted pedophiles were trying to get in their country, and over 2,000 of those people were denied entry. \r\n\r\n\r\nForeign countries have reciprocated 100 times.\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd that\u2019s the next step for Smith and Kanka: To get the rest of the world on board with the plan.\r\n\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get other countries to replicate the passport process,\u201d Smith said. \r\n\r\n\r\nAs well they should. We\u2019ve got enough American sickos as it is. We don\u2019t need any foreign pedophiles.\r\n\r\n\r\n\u201cThis is a big step in protecting the children of this great country, as well as the children of the world,\u201d Kanka said. \u201cWhen we started this back in 1994 we just didn\u2019t stop there. We worked on this. And now this train is rolling again, and it\u2019s rolling quicker.\u201d\r\n\r\n\r\nI can\u2019t imagine what it would be like to lose a child, nevermind to lose a child in such a horrible way. Tremendous credit to Richard and Maureen Kanka for spearheading Megan\u2019s Law, and even more credit for not stopping, some 23 years later.\r\n\r\n\r\nJeff Edelstein is a columnist for The Trentonian\r\nThis article ran on pages 1 &amp; 2 of the Sunday edition of the Trentonian newspaper and can be found online at:\r\nhttp://www.trentonian.com/article/TT/20171118/NEWS/171119808", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=400767"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2022391892969608, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}