SORNA Retroactive Rule Finalized

• NCJ Number: 250724
• Date Published: December 2010
• Length: 5 pages
• Corporate Author: Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART)
• Sale Source: Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART)
• Publication Format: Document; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Description; Instructional Material; Guideline
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The Federal Register/ Vol. 75, No. 249 for Wednesday, December 29, 2010, contains the finalization of an interim rule regarding the scope of the application of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) to all sex offenders, including those convicted before SORNA's enactment.

Abstract

This rule means that such sex offenders must register as a sex offender in compliance with SORNA, even though the offense at issue was committed before SORNA. The preamble to this interim rule explains that SORNA establishes national standards for sex offender registration and notification and that SORNA's requirements are of two sorts. First, SORNA directly imposes registration obligations on sex offenders as a matter of Federal law and provides for Federal enforcement of these obligations under circumstances supporting Federal jurisdiction. Second, SORNA establishes minimum national standards for non-Federal jurisdictions to incorporate in their sex offender registration and notification programs. The preamble further states that rule-making was immediately necessary to foreclose any dispute as to whether SORNA is applicable when the conviction for the predicate sex offense occurred before SORNA was enacted.