Sex Offender Registry: Are All Created Equal?

The other day, I was talking with a client who attended a conference pre-COVID-19 and was being solicited by other background screening companies.  We were specifically talking about Massachusetts and turnaround time. 

Another company indicated they could get the results for a Massachusetts Sex offender Registry within 24 hours. "Oh yes," I replied. Then I went on to talk with our client about the Massachusetts sex offender registry and its many levels of offenders. 

That type of search, which is almost instant (or within 24 hours), is most likely only an online search of the highest, most severe sex offenders.  There are a total of three levels in Massachusetts.  One level is available online.  

A second level is available via email to one location only and processed within a few days (or in busy times as long as a couple of weeks). 

The third level is not publicly available data in Massachusetts, and thus, not available to the public, including employers for their backgrounds. 

Similar to Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon have the same process for obtaining the information. 

The difference is that New York and Oregon have all three levels available via email.  Only New York has both levels two and three online, but level one can only be obtained through direct communication with the New York Sex Offender Registry. 

Oregon is a different matter altogether; level three is available through their online search, but legislation in 2018 ensured that level two and level one sex offenders could be provided to the public, however, an email is required to obtain that information. 

Are you aware of what your vendor is searching for? Are they aware that there are many levels not available in the online search?

Numerous states have multiple levels of sex offenders. The National Sex Offender Registry, aka the Dru Sjordin Registry, generally only contains the most severe level of sex offenders from those states.

Why would you run a search for incomplete data? Do you think the press is going to differentiate when publishing that you hired a sex offender?  

Such as, "Your Organization hired a sex offender; but they were only Level 2.”

No, the press is simply going to report "Your Organization hired a sex offender!”, and, it’s pretty easy for them to find that out. 

Before it gets that far in the process, are you finding it out to avoid exposure?

To provide a specific example, CI discovered that a level one sex offender in New York State had overtaken an eleven-year-old boy in a local restaurant’s bathroom. 

As to the levels pertaining to the likelihood of re-offending, a level one doesn’t sound so scary, but overtaking a child in a public restroom is what the press will focus on. 

It is absolutely imperative to re-evaluate background investigation vendors and make sure that they are not relying solely on the National Sex Offender registry, and that when they are running state-specific searches, they are receiving comprehensive results.

There are differences in search practices that will affect the comparability of results and turnaround time with Sex Offender Registry data. Do you know the search processes of your background vendor? 

Are you getting all publicly available data? Contact Commercial Investigations LLC to ensure you are.

Written by Michelle Pyan