Cite as: 538 U. S. 84 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court. The Alaska Sex Offender Registration Act requires convicted sex offenders to register with law enforcement authorities, and much of the information is made public. We must decide whether the registration requirement is a retroactive punishment prohibited by the Ex Post Facto Clause.
I
A
The State of Alaska enacted the Alaska Sex Offender Registration Act (Act) on May 12, 1994. 1994 Alaska Sess. Laws ch. 41. Like its counterparts in other States, the Act is termed a "Megan's Law." Megan Kanka was a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was sexually assaulted and murdered in 1994 by a neighbor who, unknown to the victim's family, had prior convictions for sex offenses against children. The crime gave impetus to laws for mandatory registration of sex offenders and corresponding community notification. In 1994, Congress passed the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, title 17, 108 Stat. 2038, as amended, 42 U. S. C. § 14071, which conditions certain federal law enforcement funding on the States' adoption of sex offender registration laws and sets
West Virginia, and James E. Doyle of Wisconsin; and for the Council of State Governments et al. by Richard Ruda and James I. Crowley.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the American Civil Liberties Union et al. by Lawrence S. Lustberg, Steven R. Shapiro, and Joshua L. Dratel; for Citizens for Penal Reform, Inc., by W. Andrew McCullough; for the Electronic Privacy Information Center by Marc Rotenberg; for the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services by Carol A. Donovan; for the Office of the Public Defender for the State of New Jersey et al. by Peter A. Garcia, Michael Z. Buncher, Brian J. Neff, Richard S. Lehrich, and Edward Barocas; and for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia by James W. Klein, Samia A. Fam, and Corinne A. Beckwith.
Lucy A. Dalglish and Gregg P. Leslie filed a brief for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press as amicus curiae.
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