Are All Sex Offender Registries Equal?
All sex offender registries are not created equal. Every sex offender registry serves a different purpose and is governed by different rules and regulations. For this reason, some sex offender registries are more effective and comprehensive than others. Other times, a certain sex offender registry will be more beneficial to you than another sex offender registry. In order to make sure your sex offender registry background check works for your specific needs, you must understand the differences that exists among sex offense registries.
The essential difference between one sex offender registry and the next comes down to a matter of jurisdiction. The legal and judicial system of the United States is made up of multiple jurisdictions. For example, at the top of the jurisdictional pyramid is the federal government. Under it are the individual fifty states. Within each state there are counties and within each county are cities. Each of these aforementioned entities represents a separate jurisdiction, and although the jurisdiction of one often times encompasses some of another’s jurisdiction (federal and state, state and county), there are many areas left to the autonomy of the individual jurisdiction. One of these areas is the rules and regulations applicable to sex offenders and sex offender registries. The result is each jurisdiction is able to make their own laws as to who is and who isn’t a sex offender. Further, each of these jurisdictions can create rules and regulations as to how a sex offender registry will operate within their jurisdiction.
The net result of this complicated, multi-layered system of laws is that sex offenders can easily slip through the jurisdictional cracks. As one crosses jurisdictional lines, the rules change. Thus, just because Person X is a registered sex offender in State A does not mean when they move to State B they will still be a registered sex offender. For this reason, if Person X shows up in your office applying for the job and you conduct a sex offender registry check using the sex offender registry of State B, you will have no idea you are about to hire a registered sex offender.
So how do you know which sex offender registry you should use? The safest option is to utilize the services of a professional background check company. A professional background check company has access to sex offender registry checks that will search multiple sex offender registries and related databases located in multiple jurisdictions. With one search you will have access to different sex offender registries maintained by various states, municipalities, the federal government, and even private corporations. By simply entering such basic information as the individual’s name, address, date of birth or social security number, the comprehensive sex offender background check will survey all of these databases. The search will pullout all information relating to all sex-related offenses and all official sex offender registrations located in all jurisdictions.
With the information gathered by the comprehensive sex offender registry search, you will have the information you need to make a safe hiring decision.
