Opinion ID: 773077
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Alaska Sex Offender Registration Act

Text: 13 The Alaska Sex Offender Registration Act was enacted at a time when the state legislature perceived that Alaska's high rate of child sexual abuse constituted a crisis.  Legislators heard testimony that Alaska's rate of child sexual abuse was the highest in the country, that one-fourth of Alaska's prison inmates were incarcerated for sexual offenses, and that in 1993, one hundred sex offenders were scheduled for release from prison. On May 12, 1994, Alaska enacted its sex offender registration statute, and subsequently amended it in 1998 and 1999. 1998 Alaska Sess. Laws 81 & 106 (adding crimes to the list of sex offenses requiring registration); 1999 Alaska Sess. Laws 54 (defining conviction). 14 The Alaska statute has two main components: it requires sex offender registration, with criminal penalties for failure to register, and it authorizes full disclosure of information about all offenders to the public. The registration provisions require persons convicted of a broad range of offenses against children and adults to register in person with local police authorities. Such offenses include, for example, sexual assault and possession of child pornography. 3 Alaska Stat. S 12.63.100(1)(B). Registrants must be photographed, provide fingerprints, and provide the following information: name, date of birth, address, place of employment, and information about the conviction (specifically the crime, date of conviction and place of conviction). Alaska Stat. S 12.63.010. Those convicted of aggravated sex offenses must register in person at their local police stations four times each year for life; those convicted of other sex offenses must register in person annually for fifteen years. Alaska Stat. S 12.63.020. 15 Information collected under the Alaska Sex Offender Registration Act is forwarded to the Alaska Department of Public Safety, which maintains a central registry. Alaska Stat. S 18.65.087. The parties agree that the Department of Public Safety has published the collected information on its internet website, making it readily available to all persons world-wide. The information on the website, which can be searched by name, partial address, zip code or city, includes the offender's name, color photograph, physical description, street address, employer address and conviction information, all under the banner Registered Sex Offender.