Feds Force States to Include Child Sex Offenders on National Registry

States have until July to pass legislation that requires juveniles to be included on the sex offender registry database. The Sex Offender Registry Notification Act (SORNA), part of the Adam Walsh Act, requires states to register kids and teens, but gives states control on how many and which juveniles are included, according to Youth Today.

So far, Florida, Ohio, South Dakota and Delaware are the only states currently in compliance with SORNA. If the other 46 do not comply, they will lose a portion of the Justice Department’s Byrne Grant, which supplies criminal justice systems with millions of dollars.

Attorney General Eric Holder has pushed the deadline back twice now, causing frustration among supporters of SORNA. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), a SORNA supporter, sent a letter to Holder urging him to enforce the July 2011 deadline, according to the Scripps Howard News Service.

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