18 U.S.C. 4042 - Duties of the Bureau of Prisons
This statute requires the federal Bureau of Prisons, upon release of a designated sex offender from prison or upon such an offender's sentence to probation, to provide notice to
- the chief, law-enforcement officer of the state and local jurisdiction in which the offender will reside
- the state or local agency responsible for the receipt and maintenance of sex-offender registration information in the state or local jurisdiction in which the offender will reside
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Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration
42 U.S.C. 14071 Part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 required each state to create, within a specified time period and pursuant to guidelines established by the Attorney General, a registry system for offenders convicted of certain criminal offenses against minor victims and those convicted of sexually violent offenses. States failing to comply forfeited 10 percent of funds they would otherwise receive pursuant to the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of
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Megan’s Law
The “federal Megan’s Law” is a subsection of the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Law (Wetterling Act). The federal law changes the conditions under which information collected by state-registration programs can be disclosed to the public. It does not, in and of itself, constitute a separate federal registration requirement.
The Wetterling Act originally provided that information collected in these state registries would be treated as private information, except for dissemination to law-enforcement agencies for law-enforcement purposes and government agencies conducting confidential background checks.
State and local law-enforcement agencies were permitted to release relevant information necessary to protect the public concerning a specific person required to register, so long as the identity of a victim was not released.
In 1996 the U.S. Congress amended that portion of the law with P.L. 104-145 to remove
- the statements regarding privacy of the registry information
- permissive language regarding community notification
The amended section now provides that the registry information may be disclosed for any permissible state purpose and mandates that registry information be released when necessary to protect the public. This provision is now 42 U.S.C. 14071(e).
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Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996
This law, 42 U.S.C. 14072, also amended the Wetterling Act. It directed the Attorney General to establish a national database at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track the whereabouts and movement of each person who
- has been convicted of a criminal offense against a minor or a sexually violent offense
- is a sexually violent predator
Individuals who meet the above criteria but who reside in a state that has not established a sufficient sexual-offender registration system, defined in subsection (a) of this statute, must register a current address, fingerprints, and a current photograph directly with the FBI. Information collected by the FBI under this statute must also be disclosed in accordance with the above provisions.
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