National Online Sex Offender Registry Opens for Business   7/22/2005 - 1,703 views, 1 Comment

Explains the DOJ website, “State sex-offender registration and notification programs are designed, in general, to include information about offenders who have been convicted of a “criminal offense against a victim who is a minorâ€? or a “sexually violent offense”.”

However, the site goes on to caution that “Members of the public should be aware that not all state Internet sites provide for public disclosure of information about all sex-offenders who reside, work, or attend school in the state. For example, a given state may limit public disclosure over its web site of information concerning offenders who have been determined to be high-risk, while another state may provide for wider disclosure of offender information but make no representation as to risk level of specific offenders. In sum, members of the public may be able to obtain certain types of information about specific offenders who reside, work, or attend school in the state and have been convicted of one or more of the types of offenses specified below, depending on the specific parameters of a given State’s public notification program.”

Nearly half of the states already have online sex offender registries which they have linked to the national site, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.

The National Sex Offender Public Registry is online at NSOPR.gov.