Opinion ID: 2526547
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: B. 10The Adam Walsh Act

Text: {¶ 40} On July 27, 2006, Congress enacted the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (Adam Walsh Act) with the express intent [t]o protect children from sexual exploitation and violent crime, to prevent child abuse and child pornography, to promote Internet safety, and to honor the memory of Adam Walsh and other child crime victims. Title of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, Pub.L. 109-248, 120 Stat. 587. The act establishes the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) with the stated purpose of creating uniform national classification and reporting standards to protect the public from sex offenders and child-victim-oriented offenders. Section 16901 et seq., Title 42, U.S.Code. Additionally, Congress designed SORNA with the intent to eliminate potential gaps and loopholes under the pre-existing standards by means of which sex offenders could attempt to evade registration requirements or the consequences of registration violations. Section 8894-01, Title 72, C.F.R. {¶ 41} To comply with the Adam Walsh Act, the General Assembly passed S.B. 10 in June 2007. S.B. 10 repealed Ohio's prior sex-offender-classification scheme, replacing it with a three-tiered system classifying offenders automatically based on the offense of conviction: an adult Tier I offender is required to register every year for 15 years; an adult Tier II offender is required to register every 180 days for 25 years; and a Tier III offender is required to register every 90 days for life. R.C. 2950.01(E) through (G), 2950.06(B), and 2950.07(B). {¶ 42} As did the S.B. 5 amendments to Megan's Law, S.B. 10 also requires offenders to personally register with the sheriff of the county or counties in which they reside, attend school, and work. R.C. 2950.04(A)(2) and 2950.041(A)(2). However, the act reduces the amount of time that an offender may reside or be temporarily domiciled in a county without registering from five to three days, and an offender must register in any county in which the offender works for more than three days or for an aggregate period of 14 or more days in the calendar year (shortened from 14 days and 30 days respectively). {¶ 43} Additionally, R.C. 2950.10 and 2950.11 require the sheriff to provide to victims, if the information is requested, and to certain community members, with notice of the name, address, offense, and photograph of registered Tier III offenders. Further, R.C. 2950.13 continues the duty of the attorney general to maintain a state registry of sex offenders for law enforcement and an Internet database providing information on sex offenders to the public.