What is Megan’s law?

How the framework fits together

• The Jacob Wetterling Act (1994) required states to create offender registries.
• Megan's Law (1996) required community notification — the registries became public.
• The Adam Walsh Act / SORNA (2006) set a national three-tier classification and standardised registration periods, though states implement it unevenly.

What is published, and for how long

Typically name, photograph, address or general location, offence of conviction and physical description. Tier one offenders may register for 15 years, tier two for 25, tier three for life, with in-person verification at set intervals. Some states publish all tiers; others publish only the higher ones.

Related restrictions

Many states and municipalities add residency or presence restrictions near schools, parks and daycare centres, along with employment limits and internet-identifier reporting. These are state and local rules, not part of the federal law, and they differ enormously from one city to the next.

Legal challenges

The Supreme Court upheld public registration in Smith v. Doe (2003), treating it as civil and regulatory rather than punishment. Since then several state supreme courts have struck down retroactive application of newer, harsher schemes under their own constitutions, finding those versions punitive — which is why the answer to «does this apply to my old conviction» is genuinely state-specific.