In 1990, eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling disappeared at the hands of an armed gunman, never to be seen again. His mother and father thereafter began a national campaign to encourage laws that would require sex offenders to register with police and to allow the police to publicize the presence of offenders to communities in which they lived. In 1994, Jacob’s parents were successful when Congress passed the Jacob Wetterling Act, requiring sex offenders to register.