**DOJ's National Sex Offender Public Registry**

**Receives Excellence.Gov Award**

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="3.2152777777777777in"
height="2.0972222222222223in"}The American Council for Technology
([ACT](http://www.actgov.org/)) and the Industry Advisory Council (IAC)
has selected the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) National Sex
Offender Public Registry (NSOPR),
[www.nsopr.gov](http://www.nsopr.gov/), as one of the top five federal
agency program winners for the sixth annual Excellence.Gov awards. This
year's Excellence.Gov awards went to programs that successfully
demonstrated information sharing between agencies and across different
levels of government, as well as those that applied best practices in
their implementation. NSOPR was chosen because it contains sex offender
information culled from local, state, and federal governments**^1^**.
The registry provides an opportunity for all states and territories to
participate in an unprecedented public safety resource by sharing
comprehensive, free-of-charge public sex offender data with citizens
nationwide.

NSOPR was unveiled on July 20, 2005, by DOJ Attorney General Alberto R.
Gonzales. The unveiling revealed a registry containing 22 connected
states; a feat that was accomplished in less than 60 days. Within the
first 48 hours, the site received over 27 million hits, peaking at
nearly 1,000 hits per second by the middle of the second day. By week
three, more than 100 countries had accessed the site, and more than
1,000 Web sites had provided links to NSOPR. Today, only six months
after NSOPR's debut, the registry now contains 48 states, the District
of Columbia, and the U.S. Territory of Guam. South Dakota and Oregon are
the only states not currently participating, due to restrictions by
state legislation; however, new legislation will become effective this
year that will allow them to participate.

Using a single query via a Web-enabled computer, NSOPR searches public
state and territory sex offender registries and delivers matched results
based on a name, state, county, city/town, or zip code. With more than
500,000 registered sex offenders nationwide, access to public registry
information is essential for citizens in helping them to identify sex
offenders beyond their own streets or neighborhoods.**^2^**

The NSOPR model utilizes service-oriented architecture (SOA) to
facilitate communication between the national search and state
registries. Realizing states have varying degrees of expertise in the
emerging field of SOA, DOJ provides ongoing support and technical
assistance, as needed.

Incorporated into the SOA design is the use of Extensible Markup
Language (XML) formats that are compliant with the latest version of
DOJ's Global Justice XML Data Model ([Global
JXDM](http://it.ojp.gov/gjxdm)). Developed by DOJ's Global Justice
Information Sharing Initiative (Global), the Global JXDM is an XML
standard designed specifically for criminal justice information
exchanges. Through the use of a common vocabulary that is understood
system to system, Global JXDM enables access from multiple sources and
reuse in multiple applications.

The Global JXDM is a recipient of the American Council for Technology's
2004 Intergovernmental Solutions Award. For more information on the
Global JXDM ACT Award, refer to the [ACT Press
Release](http://www.actgov.org/actiac/documents/pr/060215Excellence.GovTop5.doc)
or [news
article](http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/38275-1.html).

NSOPR's success was widely based on state and federal partnerships,
however also monumental was the crucial technical assistance offered by
private industry, particularly the Integrated Justice Information
Systems ([IJIS](http://www.ijis.org/)) Institute.**^3^** IJIS provided
in-depth support, including peer review of the Web service solutions,
Global JXDM exchange documents, as well as on-site support in
implementing the service-oriented architecture for states requesting
technical assistance. Over 50 IJIS member companies volunteered their
expertise to the project. These relationships enabled DOJ to exceed its
goal by connecting over 20 states in 60 days, with the initial release
costing less than \$1 million. To date, NSOPR is the only no-cost
government-sponsored application for citizen users that links state and
territory public sex offender registries throughout the country.

Prior to NSOPR, states had already invested significant resources into
developing their own public registries in an effort to comply with the
Wetterling Act,**^4^** as well as to address the demand of citizens to
access local sex offender data. NSOPR leverages that work and aims to
minimize any additional burden on states by not requiring further
reporting or extensive software development. NSOPR acts as a conduit of
information from existing state and territory registries by displaying
the detailed record of an offender as it would appear on the state's Web
site. Not only does this prevent the need to reformat the data, but it
highlights the work done by the states and ensures that all information
captured at the state level is made available.

NSOPR priorities include maintaining state control of data, limiting the
latency of data, and avoiding privacy concerns associated with
centralized national databases. NSOPR's use and visibility have prompted
many states to make significant enhancements to their registries,
including the timeliness, accuracy, and quality of data. States are also
reviewing their peers' efforts for enhanced capability options, such as
mapping, which will become another valuable feature of NSOPR in the near
future.

DOJ continues to make periodic refinements and enhancements to the site
and plans to add to the site's functionality to enable multiple zip code
searches, zip code radius searching, and geospatial mapping
capabilities. With the backing of public and private industry and the
mandate from citizens, DOJ will continue work on NSOPR to make it an
even more powerful tool, one whose implications in safeguarding
neighborhoods are immeasurable. Offering critical information to
millions of concerned citizens, especially parents, helps to protect not
only our citizens, but most importantly, our children.

**[About Excellence.Gov Awards]{.underline}**

![](media/image2.jpeg){width="1.645138888888889in"
height="1.4791666666666667in"}The Excellence.Gov Awards program was
established to recognize government endeavors that demonstrate
excellence in electronic government innovation. Bestowed by the Industry
Advisory Council, a subsidiary of the American Council for Technology,
the IAC brings industry and government executives together to exchange
information, support professional development, improve communications,
and build partnerships and trust, thereby enhancing government's ability
to serve the nation. ACT and IAC work together to provide an objective,
professional, and ethical forum where government and industry leaders
can collaborate on addressing common issues towards a shared vision.  

**References:**

^**1**^ Government Computer News (GCN), *Excellence.gov awardees focus
on info-sharing*, February 15, 2006,
[www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/38275-1.html](http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/38275-1.html).

^**2**^ U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs Press
Release: *Department of Justice Links Alaska to National Sex Offender
Public Registry Web* Site, December 29, 2005,
[www.ojp.usdoj.gov/pressreleases/BJA060022.htm](http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/pressreleases/BJA060022.htm).

**^3^** IJIS is a membership-based organization of private-sector
practitioners with the goal of applying industry expertise toward
helping justice agencies better share information,
[www.ijis.org](http://www.ijis.org/).

**^4^** In 1994, Congress passed the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against
Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act. This law
requires states to have sex offender registries and requires individuals
convicted of a criminal offense against a minor, or of a sexually
violent offense, to register their current address. For more
information, visit
<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/what/02ajwactcontents.html>.