Advocacy
Four months after Jacob's abduction, his parents, Jerry and Patty Wetterling, formed the Jacob Wetterling Foundation, an advocacy group for children's safety. In 1994, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, more simply known as the Jacob Wetterling Act, was passed in his honor. It was the first law to institute a state sex-offender registry. The law has been amended a few times, most famously by Megan's Law in 1996.
The Bridge of Hope is named in honor of Jacob. Patty Wetterling ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Representative from the Sixth Congressional District of Minnesota in 2004 and 2006.
Jacob is a featured child in the Polly Klaas Foundation.
Read more about this topic: Jacob Wetterling