Jacob, Megan, and Pam: Federal Sex Offender Registration Legislation

Updated September 25, 2000

Federal lawmakers continued to build upon the foundation of the Jacob Wetterling Act by enacting the Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996. Senator Phil Gramm (R-Texas) and Senator Joseph Biden (D-Delaware) authored this proposal, named in memory of a victim’s rights activist who died in the infamous TWA Flight 800 crash off the coast of Long Island, New York, to create a national database of convicted sex offenders that would track sex offenders as they move from state to state and cover for states not in compliance with Jacob Wetterling. In arguing for the bill on the Senate floor, Senator Biden addressed non-compliance with sex offender registration mandates, (I)f any states fail to act, we cannot allow there to be a ‘black hole’ where sexual predators can hide and are then lost to all states.

https://mainweb-v.musc.edu/vawprevention/policy/fedoffender.shtml