What are sex offender registry laws?

By: LawInfo

Published: 01/2009

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) is a federal law that sets out the minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification. SORNA applies to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, principal U.S. territories, and federally recognized Indian tribes. In other words, while a particular state’s law can be stricter than the SORNA requirements, a state’s law cannot be less strict than the SORNA requirements.

First, SORNA requires that sex offenders, or persons who are convicted of sex crimes as defined by SORNA, must register in the jurisdictions in which they live, work, and/or go to school. Sex offenders have to provide certain required information about themselves that each jurisdiction must maintain in their files. Plus, much of this information must be posted on state and national sex offender registry websites, which allows public knowledge of who sex offenders are, what they look like, and where they live, work, and/or go to school. This information is also provided to certain law enforcement agencies, schools, social service agencies, public housing agencies, and national databases. Additionally, if you specifically request to be notified about changes in a particular sex offender’s information, or sex offenders in your area, you can request that you receive informational e-mails from your state sex offender website.

SORNA also sets forth the timing of registration requirements for each sex offender. A sex offender must initially register before being released from incarceration, or, if not incarcerated, with three days of their sentencing for the crime. When a sex offender moves to, or starts to work or attend school in, a new jurisdiction, he or she has three days in which to register with local authorities. Plus, even if a sex offender does not change jurisdictions, he or she must periodically update his registration information with local authorities, depending on the severity of the sex crime of which he or she was convicted, which can range from every three months to once a year, or whenever his or her address, workplace, or school status changes.

Sex offenders have to register in this manner for a certain period of time, the duration of which depends upon the severity of the sex crime; registration requirements can range from 15 years to life. However, if some sex offenders maintain a clean record for a certain period of time, then they may be able to reduce the time period during which they must register.

Furthermore, SORNA is retroactive; in other words, SORNA applies to persons who were convicted of sex offenses even prior to the law’s passage. SORNA also applies to juveniles who were convicted of sex offenses as adults, or certain older juveniles who were convicted as juveniles of certain more serious sex offenses.

Every state is required to have criminal penalties for sex offenders who do not comply with registration requirements. A failure-to-register crime can result in imprisonment for up to 10 years under federal law, and can result in various penalties depending on the applicable state law.