FY 13 Support for Adam Walsh Act Implementation Grant

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 its efforts to increase implementation of SORNA, the North Dakota Office of the Attorney General North Dakota is struggling with the demands created by a transient workforce and increased populations in parts of the state. The State has identified four goals to help cut down the burden on its jurisdictions: (1) ensure positive identification of sex offenders through use of two-fingerprint devices, rather than the more time-consuming ten-print collection; (2) reduce local law enforcement time spent on sex offender registration by 75%; (3) reduce number of fingerprint cards processed by Bureau of Criminal Investigation by enabling local law enforcement to transmit the data directly; and (4) increase the number of sex offender registrations submitted with biometric identification. ca/ncf