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To promote innovation and best practices in sex offender management, the SMART Office has funded two fellowship positions. An FY 2012 fellowship was awarded to (1) enhance the SMART Office’s capacity to provide technical assistance and support to State, local, and tribal jurisdictions and to build a foundation for integrating victim-centered approaches, and (2) identify experts, research, practices, and programs related to sexual assault and...
The SMART Office announces the addition of two new staff to its team: Victoria Jolicoeur and Yahya Fouz.
Victoria Jolicoeur is a Program Specialist in the SMART Office. Ms. Jolicoeur manages SMART Office grant programs, including the Adam Walsh Implementation Act grant program. In addition to managing grants, she also works closely with policy advisors to assist States with the implementation of the Sex Offender...
In 2008, the SMART Office established the International Tracking of Sex Offenders Working Group (IWG) to track registered sex offenders who enter and depart the United States. More than 25 IWG member agencies and offices are working to create this comprehensive tracking system, including representatives from the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, State, Defense, and Justice. The tracking system proposed by IWG is fully described...
The SMART Office has received and reviewed a tremendous amount of information and material from the States, territories, and the District of Columbia about their progress toward substantial implementation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 42 U.S.C. § 16925(a) (Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006). To date, the SMART Office has received and reviewed full...
Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), created the first opportunity for federally recognized Indian tribes to be included in a nationwide sex offender registration and notification system. SORNA specifies, with some restrictions, that a federally recognized Indian tribe may, by resolution or other enactment of the tribal council or comparable...
Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), requires that sex offenders register in any jurisdiction where they live, work or go to school (see 34 U.S.C. § 20913 (a)).
There are a number of Indian tribes that are SORNA registration jurisdictions and, in some instances, the geographical apportionment of tribal lands...
Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), requires that jurisdictions share information within their jurisdictions as well as with other registration jurisdictions (see 34 U.S.C. § 20913 (c) and 34 U.S.C. § 20923 (b) (3)). Because of the unique nature of criminal justice coordination between states and tribes, collaboration is encouraged...
Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), requires that jurisdictions include in their registries a set of fingerprints and palm prints from each sex offender (see 34 U.S.C. § 20914(b)(5)). The National Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification specify that jurisdictions must maintain fingerprints and palm prints in digital format...
Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), specifically includes certain Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) convictions in its definition of "sex offense."
Department of Defense Instruction 1325.07 contains the specific list of UCMJ convictions that require registration under SORNA.1 Jurisdictions must ensure that all of the UCMJ convictions listed...
Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), requires that each jurisdiction's registry include "[t]he text of the provision of law defining a criminal offense for which the sex offender is registered" (see 34 U.S.C. § 20914 (b)(2)). The National Guidelines on Sex Offender Registration and Notification have since clarified this requirement...
Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), requires that jurisdictions must register homeless and transient sex offenders, as well as offenders without fixed employment locations. The National Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification advise that, for the purposes of registration under SORNA, a sex offender resides in a jurisdiction when...
Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), requires a conviction-based structure for sex offenders' registration and notification requirements. SORNA does not address the use of risk assessment tools for registration or notification purposes. Many jurisdictions currently use risk assessment processes for a variety of purposes. These include aiding in making release...
Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), requires that registration jurisdictions immediately provide any initial or updated information about a sex offender to entities that fall under specific categories (see 34 U.S.C. §20923(b)). Each category is addressed in turn below, with direction on how jurisdictions can substantially implement its terms...
Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), requires that a registered sex offender appear in person regularly to update certain registration information according to the following criteria (see 34 U.S.C. § 20918):
34 U.S.C. § 20927(a) sets forth a penalty for jurisdictions that fail to substantially implement Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA):
For any fiscal year after the end of the period for implementation, a jurisdiction that fails, as determined by the Attorney General, to substantially implement this title shall not...
The Justice Department’s Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART) recently held its 2014 Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) Workshops Jan. 22-23 and Feb. 25-26, at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, S.C.
"Our primary mission is to help our state, tribal, and territorial partners meet their responsibilities for registering, tracking and notifying communities about sex offenders," said Acting...
The 2008 National Symposium on Sex Offender Management and Accountability was held July 30 - August 1 in Baltimore, Maryland. Approximately 900 people attended the two and a half day conference. The Opening Ceremony included an honor song performed by Dennis W. Zotigh, Community Events Coordinator at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and Kiowa, Ohkay Oweengeh Pueblo and Santee Dakota Indian.
The...
The 2009 National Symposium on Sex Offender Management and Accountability was held April 21-23 in Houston, Texas, to provide jurisdictions with advanced training as they work towards implementation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. The Symposium offered nationally recognized expert speakers and panel presentations in all areas of sex offender management...
The 2010 National Symposium on Sex Offender Management and Accountability was held May 18-20, in Portland, Oregon. The Symposium provided jurisdictional representatives with advanced training to assist in their work towards implementation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), and offered nationally-recognized expert speakers and panel presentations in various areas of sex offender management and accountability.
The 142nd Fighter Wing International Guard began...
Campuses often share sexual misconduct violation information internally, few share externally.
As schools have worked to improve their responses to campus sexual assault and misconduct, some have increased their use of transcript notation ― putting a statement on the academic record of a student found responsible for a sexual misconduct violation. But, there is little information about how transcript notations are used by the originating school or...
The SMART Office recently updated the SORNA Model Tribal Code to reflect the changes in federal law that came about with the passage of the Tribal Law and Order Act.
The National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) hosted a nine-part webinar series based on the SMART Office's Sex Offender Management Assessment and Planning Initiative (SOMAPI). The webinars are designed to provide policymakers and practitioners with trustworthy, up-to-date information they can use to identify and implement effective means to combat sexual offending and prevent sexual victimization. Topics include the incidence and prevalence of sexual offending; the etiology...
