Sex Offenders and Amber Alerts

Upon visiting the U.S. government’s AMBER Alert website, the first thing you’ll see is two links. The first of which points to the National Sex Offender Public Registry dedicated to Dru Sjodin, a college student who was kidnapped and murdered by a registered tier III sex offender in 2003. The registry was set up in 2006 after legislation dubbed “Dru’s Law” was passed.

Why it took the victimization of a 22 year-old woman to inspire a program that revolves around sex crimes committed against children is a good question, but beside the point. And we don’t want to falsely label these convicted sex offenders as suspects in AMBER Alert cases, but there is a reason the AMBER program and the National Sex Offender Public Registry are linked to each other.

Registration provides a system for tracking sex offenders following their release into the community. If a sexually violent crime occurs or a child is molested, the information available to law enforcement about sex offenders who may have been present in the area could help to identify the perpetrator and solve the crime. If a particular released sex offender is suspected in such a crime, knowledge of the sex offender’s whereabouts through the registry could help law enforcement make a quick apprehension.

The National Sex Offender Public Registry operates under the guidelines of the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act (“the Wetterling Act”), focusing on information about people convicted of offenses involving sexual molestation or sexual exploitation of children, and people convicted of rape and rape-like offenses (regardless of the age of the victim), respectively.

According to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA):

The offenses for which registration is required under the SORNA standards include any “specified offense against a minor” as defined in section 111(7). The SORNA § 111(7) definition of specified offense against a minor covers any offense against a minor.i.e., a person under the age of 18, as provided in section 111(14). That involves any of the following:

KIDNAPPING OR FALSE IMPRISONMENT OF A MINOR (§ 111(7)(A)-(B)): These clauses cover “[a]n offense (unless committed by a parent or guardian) involving kidnapping [of a minor]” and “[a]n offense (unless committed by a parent or guardian) involving false imprisonment [of a minor].” The relevant offenses are those whose gravamen is abduction or unlawful restraint of a person, which go by different names in different jurisdictions, such as “kidnapping,” “criminal restraint,” or “false imprisonment.” Jurisdictions can implement the offense coverage requirement of these clauses by requiring registration for persons convicted of offenses of this type (however designated) whose victims were below the age of 18. It is left to jurisdictions’ discretion under these clauses whether registration should be required for such offenses in cases where the offender is a parent or guardian of the victim.

SOLICITATION OF A MINOR TO ENGAGE IN SEXUAL CONDUCT (§ 111(7)(C)): This clause covers “[s]olicitation [of a minor] to engage in sexual conduct.” “Solicitation” under this clause and other SORNA provisions that use the term should be understood broadly to include any direction, request, enticement, persuasion, or encouragement of a minor to engage in sexual conduct. “Sexual conduct” should be understood to refer to any sexual activity involving physical contact. (See the discussion later in this list of “criminal sexual conduct” under section 111(7)(H).) Hence, jurisdictions can implement the offense coverage requirement under this clause by requiring registration, in cases where the victim was below the age of 18, based on:

- any conviction for an offense involving solicitation of the victim under a general attempt or solicitation provision, where the elements of the object offense include sexual activity involving physical contact, and

- any conviction for an offense involving solicitation of the victim under any provision defining a particular crime whose elements include soliciting or attempting to engage in sexual activity involving physical contact.

USE OF A MINOR IN A SEXUAL PERFORMANCE (§ 111(7)(D)): This clause covers offenses involving “[u]se [of a minor] in a sexual performance.” That includes both live performances and using minors in the production of pornography, and has some overlap with section 111(7)(G), which expressly covers child pornography offenses.

SOLICITATION OF A MINOR TO PRACTICE PROSTITUTION (§ 111(7)(E)): This clause covers offenses involving “[s]olicitation [of a minor] to practice prostitution.” Jurisdictions can implement the offense coverage requirement under this clause by requiring registration, in cases where the victim was below the age of 18, based on:

- any conviction for an offense involving solicitation of the victim under a general attempt or solicitation provision, where the object offense is a prostitution offense, and

- any conviction for an offense involving solicitation of the victim under any provision defining a particular crime whose elements include soliciting or attempting to get a person to engage in prostitution.

VIDEO VOYEURISM INVOLVING A MINOR (§ 111(7)(F)): This clause covers “[v]ideo voyeurism as described in section 1801 of title 18, United States Code [against a minor].” The cited federal offense in essence covers capturing the image of a private area of another person’s body, where the victim has a reasonable expectation of privacy against such conduct. Jurisdictions can implement the offense coverage requirement under this clause by requiring registration for offenses of this type, in cases where the victim was below the age of 18.

POSSESSION, PRODUCTION, OR DISTRIBUTION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY (§ 111(7)(G)): This clause covers “possession, production, or distribution of child pornography.” Jurisdictions can implement the offense coverage requirement under this clause by requiring registration for offenses whose gravamen is creating or participating in the creation of sexually explicit visual depictions of persons below the age of 18, making such depictions available to others, or having or receiving such depictions.

CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT INVOLVING A MINOR AND RELATED INTERNET ACTIVITIES (§ 111(7)(H)): This clause covers “[c]riminal sexual conduct involving a minor, or the use of the Internet to facilitate or attempt such conduct.” The definition has two parts:

- The “criminal sexual conduct involving a minor” language in this definition covers sexual offenses whose elements involve physical contact with the victim. Such as provisions defining crimes of “rape,” “sexual assault,” “sexual abuse,” or “incest”. In cases where the victim was below 18 at the time of the offense. In addition, it covers offenses whose elements involve using other persons in prostitution. Such as provisions defining crimes of “pandering,” “procuring,” or “pimping”. In cases where the victim was below 18 at the time of the offense. Coverage is not limited to cases where the victim’s age is an element of the offense, such as prosecution for specially defined child molestation or child prostitution offenses. Jurisdictions can implement the offense coverage requirement under the “criminal sexual conduct involving a minor” language of this clause by requiring registration for “criminal sexual conduct” offenses as described above whenever the victim was in fact below the age of 18 at the time of the offense. (Section 111(7)(C) and (E) separately require coverage of offenses involving solicitation of a minor to engage in sexual conduct or to practice prostitution, but registration must be required for offenses involving sexual conduct with a minor or the use of a minor in prostitution in light of section 111(7)(H), whether or not the offense involves “solicitation” of the victim.)

- Jurisdictions can implement the “use of the Internet to facilitate or attempt such conduct” part of this definition by requiring registration for offenses that involve use of the Internet in furtherance of criminal sexual conduct involving a minor as defined above, such as attempting to lure minors through Internet communications for the purpose of sexual activity.

CONDUCT BY ITS NATURE A SEX OFFENSE AGAINST A MINOR (§ 111(7)(I)): The final clause covers “[a]ny conduct that by its nature is a sex offense against a minor.” It is intended to ensure coverage of convictions under statutes defining sexual offenses in which the status of the victim as a minor is an element of an offense, such as specially defined child molestation or child prostitution offenses, and other offenses prohibiting sexual activity with underage persons. Jurisdictions can comply with the offense coverage requirement under this clause by including convictions for such offenses in their registration requirements.

When prevention and knowledge is your best defense against victimization, and the registry can provide information on, say, sex offenders in your neighborhood, it’s a tool you’ll want at your fingertips.

The Amber Alert Portal is currently working with states to further enforce this registration, with the possible implementation of a “Predator Alert” system to inform members of law enforcement, the media and the public when these offenders go missing.

You can sign up to receive Amber Alerts on your mobile/ cell phone or email inbox. As well, you get an Amber Alert Child ID Kit to document important information/ photos of your child as a protective measure.