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I cannot find a sex offender that should be on your Website. What should I do?
If you think that a person should be registered as a sex offender and you cannot
find them on our Website, you should contact the registry officials in the Jurisdiction
where that person lives, works, or goes to school. The 50 States, the District of
Columbia, the five principal U.S. territories, and federally recognized Indian tribes
that elect to function as registration Jurisdictions are all defined as “Jurisdictions”
under SORNA.
To find the appropriate contact information for those officials,
click here.
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There is a mistake in the listed information about a particular sex offender contained
on your Website. What should I do?
The sex offender registration information that you see on NSOPW is retrieved from the individual Jurisdiction(s) where a sex offender is registered. To correct any errors in registration information, please contact the appropriate registration officials in those Jurisdictions. To find the appropriate contact information for those officials,
click here.
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The search result says that a particular Jurisdiction is “not available” at this
time. What should I do?
Since NSOPW uses Web services to perform real-time searches of the individual Jurisdictions’
databases, any time a Jurisdiction has a system or Internet connectivity problem,
that Jurisdiction’s database cannot be accessed by NSOPW. These problems are usually
fixed quickly and very rarely result in a Jurisdiction being unavailable for more
than an hour.
If a site is unavailable for more than an hour, please e-mail us at
webmaster@nsopw.gov
and let us know.
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There is a sex offender who is registered in more than one Jurisdiction. Why is
that?
Sex offenders are subject to the registration laws of the Jurisdictions where they
work, live, attend school, or where convicted. Each Jurisdiction’s registration requirements
might be different. Some Jurisdictions require a sex offender’s registration information
to remain on their public registry Website even after they have relocated to another
Jurisdiction.
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I want to find out more information about a sex offender who is listed on your Website.
What should I do?
To find additional information about a particular sex offender, you can try contacting
the registry officials in the Jurisdiction where that offender is registered. To
find the appropriate contact information for those officials,
click here.
Many times, registry officials will not be able to disclose any additional information
about an offender but might be able to direct you to resources or offices within
their Jurisdiction where you could find that information.
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There is not enough information on the Website for me to determine what Jurisdiction
a sex offender is located in. What should I do?
Most Jurisdictions’ sex offender registry Websites have a banner identifying themselves.
Some, however, will appear in the NSOPW results window without that identifying
information. To find out the Jurisdiction where that information originated from,
put your mouse arrow over the window with the registration information, right-click,
click on "Properties" and then cut-and-paste the “Address (URL)” http://
address into your browser’s address bar. This will take you to the individual Jurisdiction’s
Website and you can continue your inquiry.
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If a sex offender is deceased, will he or she still appear on your Website?
Each Jurisdiction’s registration requirements might be different. Some, but not
all, Jurisdictions require sex offender registration information to remain on their
public registry Website even after they have died.
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I have searched for a sex offender but cannot find a match. What should I do?
Make sure that you have spelled the offender’s last name correctly. If you are unsure
of the spelling of their first name, you may use a first initial in the search box.
If this does not work and you think that the person should be registered as a sex
offender, you should contact the registry officials in the Jurisdiction where that
person lives, works, or goes to school. To find the appropriate contact information
for those officials,
click here.
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Does NSOPW have a single national database of all registered sex offenders from
the registry Jurisdictions that participate with the NSOPW?
No, NSOPW primarily uses Web services to search the individual databases of the
Jurisdictions in real time when a search is conducted. This method ensures that
NSOPW is returning the most current information.
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Why do I have to enter an alphanumeric code before I can perform a search?
The program that generates and authorizes the alphanumeric code is called a CAPTCHA,
which stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and
Humans Apart.” The CAPTCHA is used to protect the availability of the Website and
to preserve the integrity of the information available through the site.
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Does NSOPW offer a Web service or an application programming interface (API) so
searches can be done programmatically?
No, the browser interface is the only way to search for sex offenders on NSOPW.
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Does the U.S. Department of Justice provide sex offender information to private companies?
No, the U.S. Department of Justice does not maintain the sex offender information displayed on the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW) therefore the U.S. Department of Justice does not have information to provide. All of the information provided through this Website is maintained by the separate jurisdictions and access to that information is controlled by the agency within each jurisdiction responsible for registering sex offenders.
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Why is the state where I live not included in the Address Radius Search?
For states to be included in the Address Radius Search, they must have the latitude and longitude for all their registered offenders’ addresses and be able to respond to address-based search requests from NSOPW. The states that are included in the Address Radius Search are the only ones currently providing this functionality to NSOPW. We are actively working with more states so they can be included soon. Check back in the future to see if your state has been added.