Sex Offender Records

Unlike other types of background checks, where it is often necessary to wade through page after page of slick commercial websites or get in contact with specific state offices (such as the state Department of Corrections, sheriff's offices, marriage registers, and so on), checking for sex offender records in the United States is a straightforward, direct process that uses a free, easy-to-use, regularly updated government website complete with detailed information, photographs, and addresses of registered sex offenders.

Under U.S. Law, all sex offenders must be registered and maintain compliance with their registration with a period appropriate to their offenses. For example, those with Tier I offenses - which are the most 'harmless' offenses, including public indecency, simple possession of child pornography (rather than distribution of the same), or voyeurism, are registered for 15 years, and must update their place of residence and other information annually during that period. Tier III offenses, on the other hand, are violent and threatening offenses, including violent rape, sex acts with children under 12 years, and non-parental kidnapping, prompt lifetime registration on the database, with quarterly verification of address and compliance.

All of this information is readily available on the Internet at the United States Department of Justice's Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website, a superbly-constructed database that is easily searchable on the basis of name, location, and other constraints. The opening screen is a set of rigorous terms and conditions, including state-specific conditions for using the website, which must be agreed to in order to access the database information.

One of the important clauses of the terms and conditions is that the information cannot be used as a basis for threats, harassment, or any kind of violence directed towards those registered on the database. Sex offender records are intended to provide parents and others with information necessary to exercise due caution when in the presence of certain persons in their area, not as an excuse for any type of vigilantism. Being on the National Sex Offender register does not place a person outside the protection of the law, merely makes them subject to a certain amount of wariness.

Once the searcher has entered the website, either a standard or an advanced search may be made. A standard search is a search of all 50 states of the Union, made on the basis of last and first names. Both first name (or initial) and last name are required to make a standard search. The name listed, and several similar names, will be returned by such a search. Of course, unusual names with no sex offense records are likely to return zero hits from the search.

A more comprehensive method of searching is to be had by using the advanced search function - which is recommended for those who want to discover what sex offenders are living in their region. In an advanced search, the name fields can be left blank, and offenders can be searched for on the basis of state, territory, township, city, county, zip code, or any combination of the above. It is therefore possible to enter your county into the advanced search and see all sex offenders in your area - a powerful tool for ensuring your safety and that of your children and relatives.