Pennsylvania Megan's Law
In 1995, Pennsylvania adopted Megan’s Law, which required offenders convicted of certain sex crimes to register information (such as their name and home address) with the Pennsylvania State Police and to have their photograph and other identifying information posted on the public Megan’s Law website.
Adam Walsh Act and SORNA
The federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush on July 27, 2006. Title I of the federal Adam Walsh Act is the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act or “SORNA.” One of the goals of the federal Adam Walsh Act, and of SORNA in particular, was to address the inconsistency across the various state Megan’s Law registries and to create a uniform standard for sex offender registry requirements. To achieve this goal, the federal Adam Walsh Act required the states to implement legislation that was in substantial compliance with the sex offender registry requirements set forth in SORNA.
On December 20, 2011, Pennsylvania enacted the Adam Walsh Act to comply with this federal mandate. In 2017, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found that certain provisions of Pennsylvania’s Adam Walsh Act were unconstitutional. Accordingly, Governor Wolf signed a new sex offender registration statute into law, which is known as Act 10 of 2018.
Act 10 of 2018
Act 10 of 2018 addressed individuals who had committed their offense before December 20, 2012. Individuals who are required to register by Act 10 either have a ten-year or lifetime registration requirement, which would have been the requirement prior to the Adam Walsh Act.