An important piece of legislation that closes dangerous loopholes in Megan’s law passed the Judiciary Committee.

Legislation that would make tracking sex offenders easier for local law enforcement won approval in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Joseph R. Biden, D-Del., closes holes in the 1996 sex offender bill, known as Megan’s Law.

The 1996 law was named after a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was kidnapped and murdered by a convicted sex offender who had been released from prison and was living in a community without residents’ knowledge.

Sen. Biden’s “Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act” requires offenders to register before being released from prison.

Currently, they can wait to register until after their release and some felons get out of custody and never register.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has estimated that there are 550,000 sex offenders nationwide, 20 percent of whom are not registered on the required state lists.

Read the full story here.

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