US online registry of sex offenders launched
By Kevin Johnson (USA TODAY)
Updated: 2005-07-22 16:14

The US Justice Department opened a national registry of sex offenders Wednesday that the public can use to track thousands of offenders across the US via computer.

Assistant Attorney General Regina Schofield said the national registry was designed to be a repository for the names of an estimated 500,000 sex offenders now listed on separate Web sites that are maintained by states.

The national registry, located at www.nsopr.gov, had records from 22 states on Wednesday. Records from the rest of the states are expected to be online by year's end, Schofield said.

Schofield said it provides photographs and information about offenders, including the neighborhoods they live in and how close they are to schools.

The risk that known sex offenders can pose was highlighted this month when Idaho authorities arrested a North Dakota man now accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two children and killing one of them.

The man, Joseph Duncan, 42, served 14 years in prison for molesting a boy from Washington state and was wanted in connection with the assault of a Minnesota boy when he was arrested.

The information in the national registry is supplied by the states, and it is up to them to ensure that it is accurate.

Oklahoma estimated this month that 27% of the state's 5,200 registered sex offenders were delinquent in reporting their whereabouts.

Oklahoma requires felons convicted of a sex-related offense to stay on the registry for at least 10 years and update their addresses annually or when they move.

Nationally, the whereabouts of 25% of offenders may not be known, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates. But the center said the national registry is "a valuable tool" for coordinating information

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