Feb. 4, 2004: Well-Intentioned Legislation Doesn't Always Produce Good Laws

W A S H I N G T O N, Feb. 4 -- Good laws are almost never produced in the cauldron of public passion.

The fact of the matter is that when we are angry, when our primary motive is punishment, we are impulsive and very rarely smart.

The Sicilians have a wonderful line which captures the essence of that: "Revenge," they say, "is a dessert best eaten cold."

Passing a piece of legislation with a particular victim or, for that matter, criminal in mind is bound to prove less than satisfactory over the long haul.

Megan's Law may be trying to do too much. So much, in fact, that it's turning out to be unenforceable.

That's neither fair to the convicted sex offender who's done his time and now has his sickness under control, nor is it providing any real protection to the most vulnerable among us. It needs to be fixed on both counts.

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