State of Maine AWA/SORNA Implementation

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 Maine plans to focus on two projects while working towards substantial implementation of SORNA. The first project is incorporation of mug shot capabilities into Maine's current criminal justice LiveScan devices to enhance Maine's criminal history records. The second project is implementation of the federal Sex Offender Registry Tool through a legislative scheme that will include the three tier system of the AWA, along with many of the new information fields required for SORNA.

ca/ncf