Twenty-five years ago, with activist Patty Wetterling by his side, Minnesota governor Arne Carlson signed America’s first law establishing a public registry system for sex offenders. The law, which Wetterling helped to write, aimed to give police a starting point for tracking down sexual predators like Danny Heinrich, the man who had kidnapped, molested and murdered Patty’s son, Jacob Wetterling.

In the last quarter century all fifty states and the federal government passed laws establishing, expanding and tightening registration requirements for sex offenders. Proposals to implement and improve registries passed legislative bodies overwhelmingly and with little debate. In many ways, the laws appear to have worked: Sexual violence and child abuse declined continuously since registration began while academic analyses show that the registries are effective deterrents.