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Understanding Florida’s sex offender registration requirements – II

Aug 26, 2016 | Sex Offenses

In a previous post, we spent some time discussing how even though those men and women under investigation or wanted in connection with a sex crime might anticipate the possibility of steep fines and lengthy prison sentences, they may be unaware of the other collateral consequences associated with a sex crime conviction, including stringent registration requirements.

To that end, we began discussing how the state divides people convicted of sex crimes into two categories — sexual predators and sexual offenders. In today’s post, we’ll start discussing some of the basic registration requirements to which people in both of these classes are subject.

To reiterate, the purpose of this discussion is not to make already anxious people that much more anxious, but rather to further impress upon them the gravity of their situation and provide them with much-needed knowledge about the road ahead.

Basic registration obligations

State law dictates that upon release, both sexual predators and sexual offenders — referred to henceforth as offenders — must report to their local sheriff’s office to provide a considerable amount of personal information that will be posted and updated regularly on the public registry website.

Outside of basic identifying information (address, sex, race, height, weight, hair and eye color, etc.), offenders must also provide information about things like any tattoos or other identifying marks, vehicles, places of employment, passports, telephone numbers, and even email addresses or internet identifiers.     

Furthermore, offenders will have to provide both palm prints and fingerprints, and submit to a photograph.

The frequency with which a person has to endure this painstaking process, which they’ll be required to do for life, depends upon their classification.

Indeed, sexual predators must report to the sheriff’s office four times per year (the month of their birth and every third month thereafter), while sexual offenders must report either four times per year or twice a year (the month of their birth and every sixth month thereafter) depending on the underlying offense.

We’ll discuss whether a sexual offender or sexual predator can ever be released from these registration requirements in a future post.

If you are under investigation or have been charged with any sort of sex crime, please consider speaking with a skilled legal professional as soon as possible.

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