Performing a Sex Offender Search in the United States
What if a Sex Offender is living in your Neighborhood? Or worse, your children's teacher or nanny has a gloomy history. It has become vital act for every parent to perform a sex offender check on people you come in contact on a daily basis like your kinder-gardener or even your neighbor
Conducting a criminal background search is, therefore, a must. It is quite easy and doesn't require much of your time.
Performing a statewide inquiry
Each state has its own sex offender registry where you can track convicted felons by name, specific address, city or county. Some registries (for instance,
the one offered by the state of Texas) will also enable you to search in academic institutions.
Others, like
the FL sex offender registry, will let you define exact search parameters, such as an offender or predator, offenders who are considered absconded or those who are currently in prison. You can also see those who are in the state or out of it.
The U.S. Department of Justice maintains a
website with links to the registries of all the states. Even registries run by Native American tribes and U.S. territories are presented.
Performing your inquiry on a county level
Some sheriff's websites offer a county sex offender registry. These registries focus on a much smaller population and tend to be more accurate.
Another option is to go directly to the sheriff office and perform a warrant search. In that way, you will know whether the person you are checking is wanted for a crime. In the same manner, you can conduct an arrest inquiry to check about a person's incarceration history and so to find out if he or she spent time in jail for a sex offense.
Finally, by referring to your county's Clerk of Court, you can access court records and so discover if the subject of your search has a conviction history. For more details on how to carry out a background check in the United States, go
here.
Using an advanced background check tool
www.usarrestsearch.org provides you with a highly advanced online inquiry tool which enables you to check a person's full criminal history including warrants issued against him, prior convictions and arrest records. Typing a subject's name, you will be able to know if he has a history of sexual violence.
All results are derived from vast private and public databases for the sake of accuracy. Searchers' anonymity is guaranteed.
Sexual Offenders vs. Predators
If you intend to carry out a sex offender search, you should be familiar with basic terminology – the difference between a sexual offender and a predator in particular.
Although each state has its own specific legal definition, broadly speaking, a sexual offender is defined as a person who has been found guilty of a relatively minor sex offense, such as possessing material connected to child pornography.
A sexual predator is a much more dangerous person who was convicted of sexually assaulting another person (e.g. rape or unlawful sexual activity with a minor). It is up to the court to determine whether a defendant is a sexual predator or offender. Whatever the decision is, both are obligated to submit their name and address to the state's sex offender registry.
The importance of performing a sex offender search
Why would you bother to check if a person has been convicted of a sex offense? What happened in the past stays in the past. This is not true. When it comes to sexual predators or offenders, the rate of recidivism (committing a crime again) is estimated at 15 – 20 percent and some experts think that it is much higher.
What it practically means is that former sexual offenders can be quite dangerous and you have to know who they are and where they are to keep your loved ones out of harm's way. This is your duty to your family and to yourself.