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Ohio enacts sex offender law
The law requires people who have been convicted of more than one offense to register with the police for 10 years. The list of registered offenders is not open to the public. -
Megan's Law
Megan's Law is enacted in New Jersey after 7-year-old Megan Kanka is raped and murdered by a sex offender who lived across the street. The law requires neighbors to be notified when a convicted offender moves into their neighborhood. -
Jacob Wetterling Act
U.S. Congress passes the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, which requires states to create a sex offender registration program. -
National Sex Offender Registry
President Bill Clinton creates a National Sex Offender Registry. Megan's Law is federalized as an amendment to the Jacob Wetterling Act. -
Ohio enacts Megan's Law
Convicted sex offenders are assigned to different categories by judges. They must register based on the category they are placed in--predator, habitual sexual offender and sexually oriented offender. Neighbors, schools and day cares are notified when a sexual predator moves into the area. -
World Wide Web
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules that information about sex offenders can be published on the internet without giving offenders a hearing to determine if they are still dangerous to the public. -
Ohio toughens sex offender laws
Ohio passes legislation to expand notifications to more categories of sex offenders. New laws place restrictions on where sex offenders can live, not allowing them to live within 1,000 feet of a school. -
Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act
The Adam Walsh Act is signed into law, changing the way sex offenders are categorized. The federal law changes the registration requirements for sex offenders. States are told to comply within three years or they will lose government funding. -
Ohio is the first to comply with Adam Walsh Act
Ohio is the first state to comply with the new registration requirements. -
Ohio Supreme Court rules Adam Walsh Act unconstitutional
The Ohio Supreme Court rules that part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act is unconstitutional. The act retroactively forced sex offenders who were convicted before Jan. 1, 2008 to comply to more restrictive registration classifications. There are now two different ways to classify sex offenders--one for sex offenders who were convicted prior to the Adam Walsh Act and one for sex offenders who were convicted after.
