republic-os/legal/us/code/title-34/chapter-215/section-21501.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, corpus, kind, title_number, title_name, chapter_number, chapter_name, section, citation, status, release_point, release_date, source, source_url, source_identifier, source_file, source_hash, raw_snapshot_hash, text_hash, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	corpus	kind	title_number	title_name	chapter_number	chapter_name	section	citation	status	release_point	release_date	source	source_url	source_identifier	source_file	source_hash	raw_snapshot_hash	text_hash	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
LegalText	34 U.S.C. § 21501	Findings	us	united_states_code	code_section	34	CRIME CONTROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT	215	ADVANCED NOTIFICATION OF TRAVELING SEX OFFENDERS	21501	34 U.S.C. § 21501	current	119-100	2026-06-26	official	https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc34@119-100.zip	/us/usc/t34/s21501	data/legal/raw/us/code/title-34/usc34.xml	61c8cdbb0e893c75b156fc922e71379788f18299187e646595b547269fdd3d00	7528207b20373f75fea96478ab5313727f47852e5364ee8c5ea18909f66a9da3	85c7c7260eb7a42a445bd14a5e95a9cfd66df527119aad316cd5c73ac57a13fa	2026-07-04	official	legal us-code

34 U.S.C. § 21501 - Findings

Text

Congress finds the following:

(1) Megan Nicole Kanka, who was 7 years old, was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in 1994, in the State of New Jersey by a violent predator living across the street from her home. Unbeknownst to Megan Kanka and her family, he had been convicted previously of a sex offense against a child.

(2) In 1996, Congress adopted Megan’s Law (Public Law 104–145) as a means to encourage States to protect children by identifying the whereabouts of sex offenders and providing the means to monitor their activities.

(3) In 2006, Congress passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–248) to protect children and the public at large by establishing a comprehensive national system for the registration and notification to the public and law enforcement officers of convicted sex offenders.

(4) Law enforcement reports indicate that known child-sex offenders are traveling internationally.

(5) The commercial sexual exploitation of minors in child sex trafficking and pornography is a global phenomenon. The International Labour Organization has estimated that 1,8000,000 11 So in original. Probably should be “18,000,000”. children worldwide are victims of child sex trafficking and pornography each year.

(6) Child sex tourism, where an individual travels to a foreign country and engages in sexual activity with a child in that country, is a form of child exploitation and, where commercial, child sex trafficking.

(Pub. L. 114–119, § 2, Feb. 8, 2016, 130 Stat. 15.)

Notes

Editorial Notes

References in TextMegan’s Law, referred to in par. (2), is Pub. L. 104–145, May 17, 1996, 110 Stat. 1345, which amended former section 14071 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1996 Amendments note set out under section 13701 of Title 42 and Tables. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, referred to in par. (3), is Pub. L. 109–248, July 27, 2006, 120 Stat. 587, which enacted chapter 209 (§ 20901 et seq.) of this title and enacted, amended, and repealed numerous other sections and notes in the Code. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 2006 Act note set out under section 10101 of this title and Tables.

Codification Section was formerly classified to section 16935 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.