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Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act: Survey of States and Territories on Implementation of the Act

NCJ Number
241310
Date Published
February 2013
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This report assesses the status of jurisdictions' efforts to implement the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), and the effect that implementation has had in those jurisdictions.
Abstract
Results estimate that about 1 in every 5 girls and 1 in every 7 to 10 boys are sexually abused. This report addresses to what extent the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART Office) determined that jurisdictions have met the requirements for substantial implementation of SORNA, and what challenges, if any, have jurisdictions faced in implementing the act; and what are the reported effects that the act has had on public safety, criminal justice stakeholders, and registered sex offenders for jurisdictions that have substantially implemented SORNA. In 2006, Congress passed SORNA, which introduced new sex offender registration standards for all 50 States, 5 U.S. Territories (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), the District of Columbia, and certain Indian tribes. SORNA established the SMART Office to determine if these jurisdictions have "substantially implemented" the law, and to assist them in doing so. A survey was administered from January 2012 through February 2013 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards to officials identified as being responsible for implementing the act. Detailed are the completed responses received from 52 of 56 jurisdictions. Tables, figures, and appendixes