In 2005, Jessica Lunsford was murdered in Florida.  A registered sex
offender later confessed to the crime; he's scheduled to go on trial
in Florida this month.

In response to this tragedy, the Florida legislature passed a set of
laws known informally as "Jessica's Law."  The informal name of the
act in Florida is "The Jessica Lunsford Act."  These laws increased
penalties for sex-related crimes, tightened registration requirements
for sex offenders, and mandated the sharing of criminal background
information among Florida law enforcement agencies (among other
provisions).

I'm trying to assess the status of Jessica's Law--or legislation
similar to Jessica's law--in the following 12 states:

1.  Colorado
2.  Illinois
3.  Minnesota
4.  Mississippi
5.  New Hampshire
6.  New Jersey
7.  New Mexico
8.  New York
9.  North Carolina
10.  Pennslvania
11.  South Dakota
12.  Washington

Has Jessica's Law been introduced in these states?  Did it stall in
the legislature or on the governor's desk?  Is a ballot initiative
under way? (I believe that a ballot initiative may be under way in
Washington.)  Is it a non-issue--just not on the radar screen?  (I
believe this might be the case in New Mexico, for example.)  Or did it
pass the legislature?

Citations to government web sites, reputable sources such as the
National Conference of State Legislatures, or reputable news sources
would be acceptable to document the answer to this question. 
(Interest group web sites, petitions, and so forth might point us in
the right direction, but they aren't always up-to-date--or even
dated.)  If the law has been enacted, a citation to the full text of
the Act would be terrific.

I realize that, in states where Jessica's Law just isn't on the table,
there simply might not be affirmative citations available saying, in
essence, "Jessica's law isn't on the table in this state," so, in
those cases, if you could just provide the search terms you used to
try to locate the information, that would be great.

Thanks very much.  I'm happy to provide more information, if you need it.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 21 Jul 2006 15:12 PDT

I agree with the comment below that a state by state research task
would be very time consuming.

There is, however, a good overview of Sex Crime laws that was prepared by NCSL:


http://www.ncsl.org/programs/cj/05crime.htm
State Crime Legislation in 2005


Have a look at the section on "Watching, Restricting Dangerous
Predators" which details, among other things, the status of latest
measures in New Mexico..."New Mexico raised the crime of solicitation
of a minor by computer from a fourth degree felony to a second degree
felony.."


Does this meet your needs?


pafalafa-ga

celina02446,

I answered your previous questions about Arizona and West Virginia. In
each case, the research took me more than an hour. To gather similar
info for twelve states is likely to take more time than most
Researchers are willing to invest in order to earn $37.50 (the
Researcher's share of your current price). I believe you will be
likely to get better results if you post a separate question for each
state.

pinkfreud-ga,

Arizona and West Virginia were particularly tough cases, which is why
I posted them separately.  These states are comparatively easy, which
is why I posted them together.  In most of these states, nothing's
happening--there's nothing to find.  So I very much doubt that anyone
would find themselves spending a full hour on each of these
states--more like a few minutes.

But I do take your point, so look for these to be posted separately.

Thanks--celina-02446-ga