Melvin Watt: “this is a tremendously difficult issue. I started to stay in my office and punt, and not come over here and talk about…”

“this is a tremendously difficult issue. I started to stay in my office and punt, and not come over here and talk about it at all. It is difficult because the statistics do indicate that there is a higher rate of recidivism for those people who have committed one offense in this area, and a greater likelihood that some of them will commit another offense. However, I thought it would be a dereliction of my duty as a Member of this body not to point out two very troubling aspects about this bill. First of all, our Constitution says to us that a criminal defendant is presumed innocent until he or she is proven guilty. The underlying assumption of this bill is that once you have committed one crime of this kind, you are presumed guilty for the rest of your life. That, Mr. Speaker, is contrary, whether we like it or not, it is contrary to the constitutional mandates that govern our Nation. We should not be presuming people guilty unless they have committed a crime. Once they have paid their debt to society, they should be allowed to go on with their lives. The second concern I have about this issue is that my colleagues in this body have over and over talked to us about how important States rights are. Yet, in this area, somehow or another we cannot seem to justify allowing States to make their own decisions about whether they want a Megan's law or do not want a Megan's law.”