DOJ Report: Sex Offender Registries Often Incomplete, Inaccurate

To be honest, I sometimes forget if I have posted certain reports I come across. So, if this has been posted before, I apologize. According to this report from the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Justice, sex offender registries have some problems. From the report:

We found that the registries that make up the national sex offender registration system – the FBI’s National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) and the state public sex offender registries accessed through OJP’s National Sex Offender Public Registry Website (NSOPR) – are inaccurate and incomplete. As a result, neither law enforcement officials nor the public can rely on the registries for identifying registered sex offenders, particularly those who are fugitives.  
 
Specifically, the states have not entered records on approximately 22 percent of their registered sex offenders into NSOR and have not identified sex offenders who have failed to maintain a current registration. We also found that states do not consistently enter information into NSOR such as social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and vehicle identification numbers.  
 
We found several causes for the missing and incomplete records. Prior to the Adam Walsh Act, states were not required to enter information on their registered sex offenders into NSOR.  Further, some records that states attempted to enter were rejected because they lacked information required by NCIC.  Also, some state registries are not fully compatible with NCIC, causing records to be lost when those states attempt to update NSOR records.  

McClatchy Newspapers has more:

Sex offender registries are often inaccurate and incomplete, undermining public knowledge about some of the nation's most reviled criminals, Justice Department investigators warn.

The national sex registry is missing information on 22 percent of state-level sex offenders, the federal investigators found. Driver's license information, Social Security numbers and basic addresses are regularly absent, potentially leaving neighbors and police alike in the dark.

"As a result, members of the public will not have the information they need to assess the threat posed by sex offenders in their communities," the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General cautioned.

The investigators aren't completely critical in their new 110-page report assessing progress in tracking sex offenders. They praise, for instance, the U.S. Marshals Service for increasing investigations and arrests of fugitives. The Marshals Service conducted 2,621 fugitive sex-offender investigations last year, up from 390 in 2004.

However, even as sex registry information becomes more widely accessible via the Internet, investigators sound alarms about the databases used to monitor the nation's 644,000 registered sex offenders. The concerns coincide with more fundamental questions about whether the stigmatizing registries go too far.

An advocacy group called Texas Voices is trying to change that state's sex-offender registration requirements so that they don't cover so many crimes. Other critics contend that Congress lacks the constitutional authority to require sex offenders to register anew when they move into new states.

"Tracking sex offenders may enhance public safety," Montana-based U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled in June, when he struck down the requirement, "but any effect on interstate commerce from requiring sex offenders to register is too attenuated to survive (constitutional) scrutiny."

Multiple registries have sprung up since the mid-1990s. The FBI maintains the National Sex Offenders Registry, and all 50 states maintain their own registries, though they differ.

Florida, for instance, allows the public to search for e-mail addresses used by registered sex offenders. North Carolina locates sex offenders by longitude and latitude. California allows searches by proximity to parks or schools.

California leads the nation in registered sex offenders, with about 114,000. This is more than twice the number of sex offenders registered in Texas or Florida, and 10 times the number registered in North Carolina.

Comments

[MonsterMart]

Professor Yung,

Regarding registry inaccuracy, you may be interested in two different post about mine, which you're welcome to cite if you like. See "Where Do The Registered Go For Answers?" and "Washington Sheriffs Make It Easier To Stalk Former Sex Offenders" on MonsterMart.

Thanks for the fantastic work!