Rhode Island Department of Public Safety Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Centralization 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.

The State of Rhode Island is continuing its commitment of substantially implementing SORNA. The State SORNA Commission has identified that additional registration sites are necessary to capture all sex offender information and maintain accuracy within the registry. One of the problems faced by the State in this regard is the cost of implementation. Grant funding will be used to incorporate these additional needs in the effort to substantially implement. The grant project will support costs associated with establishing 7 additional sex offender registration sites at strategic locations throughout Rhode Island. Costs include equipment purchases such as computers, printers, scanners, digital finger and palm print devices, digital cameras, office furniture, and installation of T-1 lines in order to support the online registry.

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