The Sex Offenders Act 1997 imposes a registration requirement on newly convicted offenders, those supervised in the community on 1 September 1997, those cautioned and those offenders released from prison on or after that date. The duration of the registration requirement depends on sentence length, type of offence, age of the offender and age and gender of the victim. Offenders are required to keep the police informed of their current address. RDS is currently establishing procedures with police forces to collate national statistics on the number of persons required to register, the number registering and the number of offenders breaching the registration requirement. Information will also be made available on the number of reconvictions and the number of address changes made by registered sexual offenders.
Statistics are available on convictions and reconvictions recorded by all sexual offenders.
Sentencing data is available on the nature and extent of such offenders criminal careers.