NCJ Number
156567
Date Published
1995
Length
31 pages
Annotation
Forty States currently require sex offenders to register their addresses and other identifying information to a State agency or law enforcement with the intent of increasing community protection.
Abstract
Sixteen of the 40 States passed their registration laws in 1994. In four States, legal challenges to these laws have resulted in decisions that upheld their constitutionality. In three States (Arizona, Illinois, and Washington), the courts found that registration is not a form of punishment and therefore is not subject to the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. In California, where registration has been examined as a form of punishment, the courts have found it not to be cruel and unusual. The 40 sex offender registration laws are similar in many respects, including the use of a State agency to maintain the registration, the data collection by local law enforcement, and more than 10 years for the duration of the registration requirement. Footnotes, tables, map, and appended list of laws