Hawaii Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Implementation Project

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (AWA) (Pub. L. 109-248, 42 U.S.C. § 16901, et seq) authorizes the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) to administer sex offender management grants. These grants assist state, local and tribal jurisdictions in developing and/or enhancing sex offender registration and notification programs that support substantial implementation of Title I of the AWA, known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). SORNA was enacted to protect the public from convicted sex offenders and offenders against children by establishing a comprehensive national system for the registration of those offenders.

In order for the State of Hawaii to gain substantial implementation of SORNA, the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center and the State of Hawaii Department of the Attorney General require grant funding to implement their proposed project. The Hawaii Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Implementation Project will enable additional agencies to process in-person verifications, registrations, and in-person updates as well as improve the States ability to immediately share registration information and files. These objectives will be achieved by designating additional departments and agencies to process in-person verifications required in the Hawaii Sex Offender Registration statute, implementing livescan units and remote identification devices at the agencies where in-person verifications, registrations, and updates will be performed, improving the Sex Offender Administration Maintenance and Inquiry applications in order to capture and display more detailed activity summaries, provide stats, and track investigation and prosecution statuses, and by continued funding for two office assistant positions that will ensure the digital file of each registered offender is current.

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