Accessing the California Sex Offender List

The Department of Justice for the state of California provides information about its sex offenders to the general public. This is done in accordance with the Megan’s Law signed by President Clinton in 1996. The department also helps every resident of the state to take necessary measures required for safeguarding their children by providing them with the possible whereabouts of the sexual predators as well as other convicts guilty of sex offenses.

As of now, the State enforcement department of California has details of around 63,000 sex offenders in its database with the residential addresses of at least 35,500 of them being given out as well. Not all offenders can be found by scanning the California sex offender list. A large number of the offender information may be retrieved from the local law enforcement agencies that are required to maintain a separate database of all local offenders convicted of sex crimes as well. The latest statistical data reveal that there are more than 118,308 registered sex offenders in the State of California at present.

While every effort is made by the State of California to register the sex offenders residing within the boundaries of the state, a lot of them do not adhere to the conformities and try to escape the law. Citizens are urged by the police as well as the other law enforcement authorities to provide information about any unregistered sex offender found inhabiting the neighborhood.

The State Department of Justice assures complete confidentiality and anonymity of the residents who come forward to assist the department. The Department of Justice can be contacted by writing to Sex Offender Tracking Program, P. O. Box 903387, Sacramento, CA 94203-3870. Calling at (916) 227-4974 or e-mailing the authority at the email id MegansLaw@doj.ca.gov is also possible if you want to provide information to the State department about an unregistered sex offender lurking in your neighborhood.  The local law enforcement agency may also be contacted for providing information.

While the entire enterprise is undertaken with the sole objective of protecting the citizens of California, the department recognizes the fact that all offenders are not caught or convicted, many of them move around freely and the incidences highlight the fact that a lot of these offenses are committed by close acquaintances or relatives as well. The Department of justice for California tries to educate members of the general public by including a webpage containing the facts about sex offenders within its official Internet resource (http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/facts.aspx).

Sex Offenders who are Required to Register:

The State of California requires every resident found to be guilty of sex offense to register with the local law enforcement agencies. Minors convicted of similar offenses are usually tried at the Juvenile courts and sent to State incarceration facilities need to register themselves as sex offenders as well.  Sex offenders who are registered in other states of the United States are required to register themselves in the California Sex offender registry on taking up residence or employment in the State. The local police departments a well as the Sheriff’s office located in each county of the State have the provision of updating the Department of justice’s database whenever a new address or other particulars need to be included.

Information Obtained from Sex Offender List:

The name as well as the physical description of sex offenders can be retrieved by going through the sex offender list for the State of California. A photograph of the offender is displayed along with the information as well. Other details include the nature of offenses as well as his residential address along with the places usually frequented by the sex predator or offender. Vehicular information along with employment details or campus information can also be obtained by inspecting the sex offender registry at the local enforcement agencies. Blood and saliva samples are collected from each offender for the DNA analysis.

The State of California provides details of the sex offenders to the public for safety purposes only. Any instance of misusing the information for committing an offense is punishable by law. The penalty of committing a felony by using the information may result in a five year term at the state prison. Misdemeanants need to pay a fine of $500 - $1,000 for misusing the public information on sex offenders.

Time Given for Registration:

All registered sex offenders are required to inform the authorities of their whereabouts every year. The information needs to be updated within five days of their birthdays and any offender failing to do so will be shown as a violator as the Sex Offender Tracking Program keeps track of each date of update. The more violent criminals like the predators are required to update their information on a quarterly basis while a sex transient must conform to the law once every 30 days.

Failing to provide timely information is considered to be a criminal offense as well. Offenders guilty of felony are convicted of felony yet again for non-compliance with the law, similarly a misdemeanant is found guilty of misdemeanor once he fails to provide updated information to the law enforcement agencies of the state. This is considered to be a felony when the sex offender fails to inform the department more than once.

Access to Information

The general public of California can view the list of sex offenders from the "Megan's Law Public Internet Web Site" which can be accessed from http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/  Various local  law enforcement agencies can also be contacted for inspection of  the Sex offender list for a particular county or district.