A sex offender registry is a system in various countries designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences.
Sex offender registration is usually accompanied by residential address notification requirements. In many jurisdictions, registered sex offenders are subject to additional restrictions, including on housing. Those on parole or probation may be subject to restrictions that do not apply to other parolees or probationers. These may include (or have been proposed to include) restrictions on being in the presence of underage persons (those below the age of majority), living in proximity to a school or day care center, owning toys or items targeted towards children, or using the Internet.
Sex offender registries exist in many English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. The United States is the only country that allows full public access to the sex offender registry; Canada allows public access to limited information on high risk offenders; all other countries in the English-speaking world have sex offender registries only accessible by law enforcement.
In offense-based systems, registration is required when a person is convicted (or, in some jurisdictions, adjudicated delinquent, found not guilty by reason of insanity,"Megan's Law," from New Jersey State Police or found not criminally responsibleMaryland Sex Offender Registry FAQs) under one of the listed offenses requiring registration.
Sex offender registries by country
Australia The Australian National Child Offender Register (ANCOR) is a web-based system that is used in all states and territories.
Authorized police use ANCOR to monitor persons convicted of child sex offences and other specified offences once they have been released from custody, or after sentencing in the event a non-custodial sentence is imposed.
An offender is required to register as a sex offender within seven days of release or sentencing, and thereafter report all relevant details to police for: eight years, if convicted of one Class 2 offence; 15 years, if convicted of one Class 1 offence or two Class 2 offences; the remainder of their life, if convicted of two or more Class 1 offences, three or more Class 2 offences, one Class 1 offence and one or more Class 2 offences, or of one or more offences of persistent sexual abuse of a child.
Juveniles who are required to register as sex offenders are required to report all relevant details to police for four years, 7½ years, or 15 years.
These above periods are maxima in Tasmania, which allows for any lesser reporting period as is fixed by the court.
On 1 March 2011, there were 12,596 registered offenders across Australia.
On 31 December 2025 Queensland legislation establishing the state's first public child sex offender register, Daniel's Law. The law is named in honour of Daniel Morcombe, a 13-year-old Sunshine Coast boy abducted and murdered in 2003 by a convicted sex offender. The register was introduced to Queensland Parliament in August 2025 and launched by the state government in the end of 2025.
Canada Canada's National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) came into force on 15 December 2004, with the passing of the Sex Offender Information Registration Act (SOIR Act). The public does not have access to the registry.
In 2026, the public High Risk Child Sex Offender Database was launched by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It acts as a centralized listing of offenders deemed to be of high risk and only contains information that has been previously released to the public by a police service, judicial court or government agency. This service is different from the full registry, which remains only accessible to law enforcement.
Ontario Since 2001, the Province of Ontario operates its own sex offender registry concurrently with the federal registry. Unlike the federal registry which has an opt-out provision if an offender can convince a judge they are not a threat, the Ontario registry has no such provision. As a result, individuals who have been convicted of a designated offence at any time after 2001, and relocate to Ontario, are obligated to register for a period of at least 10 years. The registration period begins on the day the ex-offender relocates to Ontario. In 2025, Premier Doug Ford stated his intention to make parts of Ontario's registry accessible to the public.
China Since 2019, China announced plans to build national database of sex offenders against minors and issued new guidelines for educators, those found sexually harassing students may face a lifetime ban from teaching. Minhang, Shanghai introduced its own sex offender registration system by 2020.
In 2021, China announced mandatory reporting system. Plans to create nationwide sex offender registry for schools and universities in China are currently under consideration.
India India began its sex offender registry in September 2018. The registry is administered by the National Crime Records Bureau. Since its inception its reported to have over 450,000 people to begin with. It can be accessed only by law enforcement agencies and has names, addresses, photographs, fingerprints, DNA samples, and PAN and Aadhaar numbers of convicted sex offenders.
Ireland Under the 2001 Sex Offenders Act and, Sex Offenders Amendment Act 2023, all those convicted of certain sexual offenses in Ireland are obliged to notify the Garda Síochána within 3 days their name and address. They must also notify the Garda of any changes to this information or if they intend to stay somewhere other than their registered address for more than 3 days (including if they are traveling abroad). Individuals are subject to these registration requirements for varying durations, based on a sliding scale of the severity of the sentence they received. This scale is as follows: Sentence Notification period Suspended or non-custodial 5 years 6 months or less 7 years 6 months to 2 years 10 years More than 2 years Indefinitely
South Korea South Korea implemented sex offender registry system by 2000 and managed by the Ministry of Justice. In addition, South Korean government has also implemented more measures such as mandatory electronic monitoring for convicted child sex offenders and disclosure of their information upon release.
New Zealand The New Zealand Government planned to introduce a sex offenders register by the end of 2014. It is managed by the New Zealand Police and information is shared between the police, Child, Youth and Family, the Department of Corrections, the Ministry of Social Development, and the Department of Building and Housing—government agencies which deal with child safety. Like the Australian and British registers, the New Zealand sex offenders register is not accessible to the general public but only to officials with security clearance. It also includes individuals who have been granted name suppression. This proposed register received support from both the Fifth National Government and the opposition Labour Party. However political lobby group the Sensible Sentencing Trust criticised the register for its lack of public access.
On 4 August 2014, the New Zealand Cabinet formally approved the establishment of a sex offenders register. According to the Minister of Police and Corrections Anne Tolley, Cabinet has agreed to allocate $35.5 million over the next ten years for the technology component of the register and initial ICT work is underway as of 14 August 2014. The sex offenders' register was expected to be operational by 2016 once enabling legislation ws passed and changes were made to the Corrections Act to enable information sharing. On 14 October 2016, the New Zealand Government formally established the Child Sex Offender Register (CSO Register) under the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016. The CSO Register is administrated by the police with the support of the Department of Corrections. The general public does not have access to the CSO Register. Only Police and Corrections personnel monitoring convicted child sex offenders have access to the database.
South Africa The National Register for Sex Offenders was established in terms of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007. It records the details of anyone convicted of a sexual offence against a child or a mentally disabled person. The public does not have access to the registry; it is available to employers of people who work with children or mentally disabled people, to authorities responsible for licensing institutions that care for children or mentally disabled people, and to those responsible for approving foster care and adoptions. People listed on the register are prohibited from working with children or mentally disabled people, from managing institutions that care for children or mentally disabled people, and from being foster parents or adoptive parents.
Trinidad and Tobago The Sexual Offences Act Chapter 11:28 Part III provides for Notification Requirements for Sex Offenders. This Sex Offenders Registry is only accessible to the Police Service and other branches of government. There are several gaps in this policy noted by members of the Caribbean Committee against Sex Crimes, most notably that the registry only deals with offenses committed within the Jurisdiction of Trinidad and Tobago. Persons who are registered Sex Offenders from other jurisdictions are not registered when they immigrate or are deported to Trinidad and Tobago.
On 13 September 2019, Trinidad and Tobago passed THE SEXUAL OFFENCES (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2019 which will allow the High Court discretion to sentence sex offenders to be placed on a public registry available on a website.
Section 48 of the amendment provides for public access to an online sex offenders registry, the court under section 49(4)c may make an order providing for a sex offender to be published on the website established in Section 48.
Trinidad and Tobago is now the smallest country in the world to adopt any form of Public Sex Offender Registration law.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom the Violent and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR) is a database of records of those required to register with the Police under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, those jailed for more than 12 months for violent offences, and unconvicted people thought to be at risk of offending. The Register is managed by the National Crime Agency and can be accessed by police, National Probation Service and HM Prison Service personnel.
United States
In the U.S. federal system, persons registered are put into a tier program based on the offense they were convicted of. Risk-based systems have been proposed but not implemented. In the United States, the vast majority of the states apply offense-based registries, leaving the actual risk level of the offender and severity of the offense uncertain. The few U.S. states applying risk-based systems are pressured by the U.S. federal government to adopt offense-based systems in accordance with Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. Studies have shown that actuarial risk assessment instruments consistently outperform the offense-based system mandated by federal law. Consequently, the effectiveness of offense-based registries has been questioned by professionals, and there is evidence suggesting that such registries are counterproductive.