Chapter 1 recounts the historical evolution of sex offender registration and notification (SORN) laws in the US. Registration laws originated in the 1930s, first in municipalities in the Los Angeles area, and later several states, typically targeting individuals with criminal convictions more generally. Over time, interest in registration flagged, but experienced a major resurgence in the early 1990s, when states, acting in the wake of high-profile sexual victimizations of children, quickly enacted new laws, this time targeting convicted sex offenders in particular. The new-era laws were not only more expansive and onerous than their antecedents, they differed in a critically important respect: For the first time, the information they contained concerning individuals was made publicly available, in the name of community self-protection. SORN laws have since continued to expand, in significant part due to pressure from the federal government, and today are in effect nationwide affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals.

Chapter 4 discusses the relationship between SORN laws and law enforcement. Since the inception of SORN laws, proponents of registration and notification have viewed them as tools for effective law enforcement. The significant financial costs to maintain and enforce these laws, however, may outweigh any usefulness they offer to law enforcement in terms of reducing sex offense victimization. The chapter first describes how states implement SORN laws. State and local law enforcement agencies are charged with the initial registration of covered individuals. Thereafter, these agencies monitor registrants and facilitate community notification. They conduct unannounced visits, maintain online registries, and inform community groups. These tasks impose substantial costs on the police, diverting resources from other criminal justice priorities. Many agencies form specialized units for SORN enforcement; others outsource aspects to private, for-profit companies. The chapter next analyzes how law enforcement personnel perceive SORN laws – in particular, their effectiveness. Studies show that individuals in law enforcement often doubt the efficacy of registration and notification, despite consistently supporting them. Law enforcement agents also recognize the costs SORN laws carry for their agencies and priorities. Ultimately, this chapter questions whether SORN laws are worth the costly burdens they impose on law enforcement.

Chapter 2 explores the structure and evolution of federal, state, and international SORN policies. The chapter first outlines the history of federal legislation in the United States that has shaped the current SORN environment, beginning with the 1994 Jacob Wetterling Act and continuing through the 2006 Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) and its subsequent amendments. The chapter then explores the key points of variation in state SORN policies, underscoring the elusive nature of fulfilling SORNA’s vision of a uniform national system. This analysis examines two particularly prominent points of interstate variation: provisions for the registration of juveniles and mechanisms for registrant classification. The chapter concludes with a brief examination of SORN systems outside the United States, indicating that, although many countries have adopted provisions for requiring registration with law enforcement, the provision of public access to registrant information is far less common.