Click on a question number to be taken to the answer.
A sex offender registry is an official government listing of people who have been convicted of certain crimes of a sexual nature. There are registries in every US state and six other countries, although the United States is the only place where the information is publicly available on the Internet. The first major SO registry was established by California in 1947; most other US states set theirs up in the mid-1990s.
For more information, see the SOLR report, Introduction to the Sex Offender Registries.
—————
Note posted on January 24, 2008, updated January 28, 2009.
Sex offender registries have been created in all 50 states of the USA, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, other territories and possessions, and several foreign countries. How many people are listed on these registries? The only honest answer to that question is that nobody really knows, but there are a lot. The US government isn’t counting, and the states and citizen groups are wildly over-counting. Many registries include large numbers of people who have been dead for many years and others who no longer live in the states that are listing them. Despite this, it is still true that there are a lot of real people on the registries. A reasonable estimate for the United States is probably in the neighborhood of 550,000. Approximately one out of every 220 adult men in the country is a registered sex offender.
For details and analysis of the numbers, see the SOLR report, Counting and Over-Counting Sex Offenders.
Additional details regarding “noncompliants”:
The number of people being sought for registration in the United States is largely included in the number of people on the registries because most jurisdictions include them on their registries as “noncompliants.”
Additional details regarding incarcerated population:
The sex offender registries include a good number of people who are currently incarcerated (see the SOLR report, Counting and Over-Counting Sex Offenders), but there may be over 200,000 people currently in prison for sex offenses who are not yet on the registries.
US government statistics indicate there were 154,000 people in state prisons at the end of 2004 whose most serious offense was rape or other sexual assault.1 The same source also shows that the federal prison population is about 14% that of the state prisons,2 so if the offense ratio is similar, this would imply a total of about 175,000 sex offenders in federal and state prisons. Add to this prisoners who committed sex offenses along with more serious crimes, people imprisoned for sex offenses not classified as sexual assault, people incarcerated in non-prison facilities (mainly jails and juvenile detention3), and growth in prison population since 2004, and the total number of people incarcerated for sex offenses probably well exceeds 200,000.
There is an unknown amount of overlap between the population on the registries and that in prisons for sex offenses, but that overlap is not likely more than ten to 20 percent.4 Thus it is likely that the total number of people who are either registered or incarcerated, or both, in the United States for sex offenses is in the neighborhood of 750,000.
Summary:
As discussed in the SOLR report, Counting and Over-Counting Sex Offenders, there are no reliable data on the number of registered sex offenders in the United States. Published estimates exceeding 600,000 are likely exaggerated. The correct number of people on the US registries is probably in the neighborhood of 550,000. This includes anyone on parole for a sex offense and satisfying their parole requirements. It also probably includes most people being sought for registration because most jurisdictions include on their registries such “noncompliants” who have either never registered or have failed to renew their registrations. It also includes a significant (but unknown) number of people who are currently in prison. However, we can add in some 200,000 people who are in prison and not on the registries, for a total of about 750,000 sex offenders who are on the registries, in prison, or both.
——————————
1. Prisoners in 2006, Bureau of Justice Statistics (US DoJ), December 2007 (abstract with link), Appendix table 9, page 242. Same, Table 1, page 23. See same, inset at bottom of page 3, Total incarcerated population at yearend 2006.4. See figures reported in the SOLR report, Count Analysis of the US Registries.
—————
Note posted on August 24, 2007, updated September 20, 2007, January 28, 2009.
