Gov. Edward G. Rendell, during a Jan. 25 demonstration of Pennsylvania’s newly expanded Megan’s Law Web site, explained that the passage of Senate Bill 92 made it possible “to expand the site to include all registered sexual offenders.”

“The previous Megan’s Law fell short on adequately protecting our children from sexual offenders,” the governor said. Previously, only those offenders designated by the courts as sexually violent predators (SVPs) could be carried on the Web site.  SVP’s account for only about 60 of the nearly 7,000 registered sexual offenders in Pennsylvania. 

This larger Web site “allows members of the public to check on the addresses of … those that may live in the proximity of a school, playground, place of worship or community center,” he said.

“We are using technology to make all residents of the Commonwealth, and in particular our children, safer and more secure,” he said. “Our primary focus in Pennsylvania is to ensure that our families and communities are safe.”

The expanded Web site can be found at www.psp.state.pa.us.

—Gail Umeham