sex registration and megan’s law
It’s no secret that if you have been convicted of a sex offense in California, you are likely required to register as a sex offender. However, you may not realize that not all sex offense convictions require you to register. Also, there are several offenses requiring registration that do not require your information to be posted on the Megan’s Law website. And there may be methods available to prevent you from being convicted of a sex offense in the first place.
This blog series will help you understand the registration requirements in California and educate you on how to protect yourself from the pitfalls that may arise regarding those requirements. It will also discuss the ramifications of a recent California Supreme Court case regarding 290 registration in California.
Section 290 Overview
Section 290 of the Penal Code requires persons convicted in California of specific sex offenses to register their personal information with the local law enforcement agency for life. It also requires people who were convicted of a sex offense in another state to register in California if they work or live here and the offenses they were convicted of in another state would have been a registerable offense if originally committed in California.
If you have been convicted of such an offense, the law requires you to provide your name, date of birth, a photograph, criminal history and in some cases your address of residence. The agency then provides this information to the California Department of Justice (DOJ) who in turn posts some or all of it on their Megan’s Law website. Information not published by DOJ is still accessible by the public upon their request.
Megan’s Law Website
The California DOJ maintains the Megan’s Law website. This is a publicly accessible database of sex offenders in California. A person can view information about a sex offender by searching by name or by typing in their address and viewing a map pinpointing the residences of offenders living in their area. You can access this web site at www.meganslaw.com.
The Megan’s Law website is designed to provide information to the public about sex offenders in their community. The law does not allow the information to be used by insurance, credit, loan, housing or education institutions to evaluate the person’s worthiness to do business with them. (See Penal Code § 290.46(d)). Some employers may consider prior sex offense convictions as a basis of employment but they must have specific legal authority to do so.
If you know or suspect such companies discriminating against you on this basis of your status as a 290 registrant, I suggest you contact an attorney.
As a defense attorney in the Sacramento, California metropolitan area, I have extensive experience with these matters. Contact me, I can help.
~ Dan Koukol, Criminal Defense Attorney
