Amie Zyla
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Amie Zyla (b. 1987) was the focus and main proponent of "Amie's Law". The law was passed in her home state of Wisconsin after Joshua Wade, who was convicted of assaulting her, was again charged with a similar crime.
[edit] History
When Amie Zyla was 8 years old she was assaulted by Joshua Wade, then 14, who was a neighbor of hers. Wade was convicted of a misdemeanor and sent to a treatment center. Wade spent the rest of his adolescence at Ethan Allen School in the Town of Delafield. He was then released when he turned 18 and his criminal records were sealed.
Zyla and Wade were both juveniles at the time of the incident, therefore local law enforcement had not been made aware that Wade was a convicted sex offender. If they did know, they could not legally share this information with other agencies in areas to which Wade may have moved. Adults who are convicted as sex offenders, after serving their convictions, must register with the local police department and their names are added to a national registry. (See Megan's Law.)
Most states have these records available online so that people may search in their local area for any offenders of who they may be unaware.
[edit] Amie's Law
In January 2005, Amie Zyla, then age 17, was watching her local news in Waukesha, Wisconsin when she saw a report of someone being arrested for molesting teens. She was dismayed to find out that the person who had been arrested was none other than Joshua Wade. "I was mad and kind of hurt. It didn't seem like it mattered what he did to me," was Amie's response when asked how she felt at the time.
At the time of his second arrest, Wade, then 23, was working at a summer camp. The camp had done a background check which came up clean since his juvenile records had been sealed. He was charged with a total of nine felony counts. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison on August 3, 2005.
Zyla then decided that she would create something from the situation. With help from her father, Mark, she contacted State Representative Mark Gundrum. The Zylas helped former Lincoln County Sheriff Lieutenent deputy and now-elected Representative Donald Friske and Gundrum pass a new law which would become known as "Amie's Law". The new law, originally developed by Friske in the 2003-04 legislative session for a similar situation in his legislative district when law enforcement felt it was unnecessarily prevented by state law from informing the public of a danger to the public, allows law enforcement officials to release information about juvenile sex offenders if they're a risk to the public and would also add the names of those convicted to a national registry.
On May 2, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, at a press conference with Zyla in attendance, signed the bill into law for the State of Wisconsin.
On June 9, 2005, Zyla went before the United States Congress in order to urge them to create similar federal legislation. When testifying before the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, she said, "The simple truth is that juvenile sex offenders turn into adult predators. Kids all over the country need the same kind of protection as in Wisconsin."
