Today California state Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill which will make the names, photos, and home addresses of “serious” and “high-risk” sex offenders available on the Internet. Supporters of the bill believe it will “enable concerned parents and other citizens to better protect themselves and their children from sex offenders.” Opponents are concerned that hate crimes will be directed toward reformed sex offenders, their families, and their property.

According to Schwarzenegger’s website, www.schwarzenegger.com, Governor Schwarzenegger cited information as “the most valuable tool we can give to parents to protect their children” and compared California with the 44 other states which have already made this information accessible to anyone who knows how to surf the Web. The website concludes the green-light announcement with a warning that “serious and high-risk sex offenders pose a significant danger to society” and “information … is only as effective as its accessibility to the public.”

An article in Contracostatimes.com by Kim Curtis is unique for the amount of space Curtis devotes to opponents of the bill. Curtis reports that the push to publish the information on the Internet was spurred by an AP investigation of the sex offender database, which revealed an embarrassingly high rate of inaccuracies. Executive Director of the New York-based Parents for Megan’s Law, Laura Ahearn, is quoted as stating, “When you don’t have an Internet sex offender registry … the community can’t be the eyes and ears for law enforcement.”

A July 1997 piece in the Sonoma County Independent by Paula Harris describes the darker side of an overactive, involved public. At times, public response to the presence of local sex offenders leads them to seek other places to live. Kelli Evans, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, confronts the paradox of allowing high-visibility public access to personal information like home addresses:

“On the one hand,” says Evans, “we want offenders to reform, but on the other, we make it impossible for them to live in a community and hold down a job … So people are going underground and moving from town to town, which also disrupts any treatment plan they may be undergoing.”

Harris also cites Katherine Sher, legislative advocate with the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice:

“People are becoming the subjects of increased community pressure and harassment. Th[e Markvardsen] case illustrates not only the harm to the offender, who has served his sentence and is trying to get his life back together, but also illustrates problems for the community.”

Evans says that in some communities, Megan’s Law has caused sex offenders to become targets for vigilantes. A 66-year-old mother of a sex offender, who asked to remain unidentified, fears the bill will lead to potential threats toward her son and his family, despite the fact he has never committed another crime:

“‘You know how people act when they find out there’s a sex offender in the neighborhood … Don’t they realize what’s going to happen when they do this?’”