Sex Offender Registration



Sex Offender Registration

Introduction

Sex offenders are those people who are prisoner or releaser from the charge of the “Department of Corrections” for an illegal sex crime which is defined in any state law. They may also be referred to individuals who are discharged from the DOC charge and are controlled to register or list down their residence and details with the local law enforcement office.

Sex Offender Registration Law in Texas

In Texas, any person with a reportable sex crime must register with local law enforcement as a sex offender within seven days of entrance in the state. Local law enforcement will then forward the data to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) which will make registration information that is publically available. The article 62.001 (5) (H) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art lists the following as reportable crimes:

Sexual Assault

Prohibited sexual conduct

Aggravated sexual assault

Indecency with a child

Continuous sexual assault of a child

Compelling prostitution

Online solicitation of a minor

Indecent exposure

Sexual performance by a child

Aggravated kidnapping with sexual abuse

Possession or promotion of child pornography

Burglary of an environment with a plan to commend a particular sexual crime

Unlawful restraint or kidnapping of a victim less than 17 years

Attempts or plans to commit the mentioned crimes

Procedural Guidelines

For the registration of sex offenders in Texas, detailed information is required to provide by the individuals and it contains: full name and alias, birth date, home address, weight and height, race and sex, hair and eye color, recent photograph, driver's license number, shoe size, social security number and a complete set of finger prints (Nelson, 2012). Other information may also be required like employment details or educational details etc (Gonzalez, 2008).

After this process of registration, the individuals are required to report regularly to the local law enforcement of Texas for their verification. The reporting may be needed monthly, quarterly or yearly based on the crime type (Sumpter, 2008).

If a person plans to move or shift from Texas, he should appear before seven days of his arrival and after arriving at new place he should register within seven days with local law enforcement. If the shift is outside the Texas state then the registration time is 10 days. The Texas law requires the sex offenders to reside or visit Texas by registering as sex offenders for 15, 25 or entire years of their life (Reuter, 2012). Links of the Texas sex offenders' registry are as follows:

http://www.city-data.com/so/Texas.html

http://www.city-data.com/so/so-Abernathy-Texas.html

Link of the Texas 10 most wanted sex offenders:

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/Texas10MostWanted/sexOffenders.aspx

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Following are the penalties for non-compliance with the registration requirements:

A person who is required to register for 10 years and failed to do will have a state jail felony.

An individual, who is required to register annually for a lifetime registration, will have a third degree felony if he fails to register.

A person who has a registration of lifetime and requires registering after every 90 days period will have a second degree felony if he fails to register.

If a trial is shown that the person has been convicted previously due to failure in ...