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Abstract: 

On July 27, 2006, President Bush signed into law the Adam Walsh Act (AWA), named after a child who disappeared from a Florida mall while on a shopping trip with his mother. Although his abductors have never been identified, and circumstances leading to his death will forever elude explanation, Adam’s case (like Jacob Wetterling’s, whose case remains unsolved years after his disappearance) has come to symbolize efforts to crack down on “sexual predators.” That there is no evidence beyond an inference that “sexual predators” were involved in Adam’s murder or Jacob’s disappearance bothers no one. That the definition of “sexual predators” has never been agreed upon, state by state, bothers to the point of obsession those who would dictate a nationwide standard to track and control persons convicted of all sex offenses.

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Affiliations:  1: Furlong and Krasny; 2: John Jay College of Criminal Justice.