TRENTON -- The New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) is the recipient of a grant from the National Institute of Justice designed to assess the empirical efficiency of the state’s Megan’s Law legislation. The $38,252 grant will cover a period of 18 months.

The proposed study, the first of its kind, was developed by the NJDOC’s Dr. Kristen Zgoba, in collaboration with Rutgers University-School of Criminal Justice; Fairleigh Dickinson University; and Associates in Psychological Services, P.A.  Zgoba will serve as project director, working with the aforementioned research partners as well as with the New Jersey State Police and the New Jersey Prosecutor’s Megan’s Law Units. 

Once the legislation’s level of efficacy is examined in terms of sex offender offense rates – both initial and re-offense -- and the cost is estimated, groundwork will be established that will allow for replication from other states.

Utilizing a triangulated methodology, the researchers will construct the necessary elements for a matched sample of sexual offenders and develop the statistical databases for data entry and analysis. This blueprint for project completion will be available to state agencies.

The primary goals of the federally funded project include:

* Through a trend analysis, the establishment of prevalence rates of sexual offense arrests for the five-year period prior to Megan’s Law and the five years after the inception of Megan’s Law. This first analysis will only establish offense rates by time period and aggregate number.

* A second analysis will compare matched sex offenders who left New Jersey correctional facilities before Megan’s Law with a sample of those who were released and subjected to Megan’s Law. This quasi-experimental design will allow for more predictive analyses and the reduction of confounds.

* The third component of the study will determine the cost-effectiveness of Megan’s Law.

According to NJDOC Acting Commissioner George Hayman, the study is scheduled to commence in the coming months.