Searching Sex Offender Registries
Are You Getting All The Information Out There?
An employer’s priority and obligation is to provide a safe environment for employees, for clients and for the community. For most employers, hiring a convicted sex offender seems unthinkable, not only for the potential workplace violence, safety risks and legal liabilities, but the potential harm to vulnerable client groups, such the elderly, the physically challenged, and children. But identifying a sex offender is not a simple task.
The term sex offender is defined as all persons convicted of crimes involving sex, including rape, molestation, sexual harassment, and pornography production or distribution. Sex offenders are statistically highly transient, moving from one city or state to another, and many are even homeless. In addition, 30% of all convicted offenders are not compliant with legal mandates to register with local police when moving to a new address as required by law. Although State Sex Offender Registries are for many employers a primary resource to determine if a candidate has a sex offense conviction, the data within these registries is not absolute: these sites are not updated on a regular basis; there is no guarantee of accuracy or completeness of the data; and in several states, such as CA, MS, and NV, information on the site can be viewed, but cannot be used to make a hiring decision.
When screening an applicant, a simple search of a state or even a national sex offender database only provides part of a sex offender’s criminal history. Registration within a sex offender database is only a requirement of a conviction and doesn’t provide you with the specific circumstances around a particular criminal act. Employers must search even deeper in a candidate’s history before they discount them based solely on their requirement to register within a sex offender database. EBI recommends that employers conduct a thorough pre-employment background check on every applicant, including a county and state criminal record search for each address provided and/or developed, and a search of EBI’s National Criminal Record Database (NCRD).
"Megan's Law" is the common term for a compilation of state laws that require law enforcement authorities to identify sex offenders to the public, largely via sex offender registries. The legislation was designed to provide the public with awareness and knowledge of convicted sex offenders in their area and state through centralized registries. However, these registries today are being used more frequently by hiring managers to scan for sex offenders and make final hiring decisions, many using the registries as their sole screening tool. Using any registry as more than a knowledge reference increases a company’s legal liability dramatically; many of the sites, specifically on the National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW), are laced with disclaimers of inaccuracies, limited information and warnings of conditional use. Background screening professionals, such as EBI, only use registry information as a research tool, and are bound by the FCRA to only provide accurate and up-to-date information.
EBI will first conduct a Social Security Number Trace on your candidate to uncover any past residences that may have been left off the application and then conduct additional criminal searches such as county, state and national searches to uncover the actual case information and disposition that leads to the sex offender’s registration to one of these sites. Only by conducting additional criminal records researches, can you ascertain the type of criminal case, disposition and circumstances that lead to the registration. All of which are necessary to make a thorough and compliant hiring decision.
Another issue with Sex Offender Registries centers around the lack of appropriate and true identifiers, such as the offender’s complete name, date of birth, or even an accurate address. Although many sites include photos of the offender your liability as a hiring manager increases if candidates apply on-line, are hired offsite, or a final hiring decision is made via a phone interview and the decision-maker never gets an opportunity to actually meet the new hire. EBI utilizes only credible and accurate sources when gathering and reporting both sex offender and criminal information before it's reported to our clients. Such information will only be released with sufficient identifiers such as complete name, date of birth or other identifiers to make certain that we are reporting information on your particular applicant.
State to state, Megan’s Law shows many inconstancies on actual reporting of offenders or even the use of the information provided. Information displayed differs from state to state; one state may provide limited information on Moderate or High Risk offenders, where others may provide a wider disclosure of information, and offer absolutely no information as to the risk level or criminal case particulars around the actual offense. In the State of California, Megan’s Law contains provisions which prohibit the use of information for the denial of insurance, housing, credit, access to education or even employment.
Currently, each state has its own methodology of how sex offenders are segmented into different Tiers and even available for public viewing. The information reported by the state varies depending on the Tier. The following is a common breakdown of Tiers used by most states:
- Tier 1: Low Risk
- Tier 2: Moderate Risk
- Tier 3: High Risk (All state registries report level III)
- Tier 4: Sexually Violent Predator (Arkansas only)
State registries such as AR, MA, MN, NE, NJ, ND & VT are generally even less comprehensive, don’t report Tier I & II offenders in most cases; and offer information on less than 1/3 of all sex offenders within the state.
Employers need to keep in mind that sex offender information should always be taken into consideration based upon the specific position being applied for to properly assess specific risk factors of the offender. Employers should be cautious of discriminating against offenders, solely as a reason for disqualification of hire, especially while using such limited information provided on public sites. EBI recommends that employers review their background screening policy with legal counsel on a regular basis to insure compliance with all federal, state and local regulations.
Never rely on public information as a sole source of information when conducting a sex offender search. EBI can conduct a comprehensive criminal search so you have complete, accurate and up-to-date information to make knowledgeable and compliant hiring decisions.
EBI recommends the following best practices be taken as part of a thorough criminal history search.
- Identifying the exact name of your candidate and identify all potential past addresses.
- Conduct comprehensive background checks on ALL employees.
- Include a search of county and/or state felony and misdemeanor records covering a candidate’s past address history and name history for at least seven years or as applicable by law.
- Search all available sex offender registries for prior acts of sexual assault or violence.
- Search additional electronic criminal databases to help close the gaps of missed jurisdictions involving transient candidates.
- Conduct prior and current employment verifications to look for any previous violations of corporate policy or acts of violence.
Let EBI conduct a comprehensive background check to help keep your workforce safe and reduce the liabilities that potential sex offenders bring into the workplace.
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All information contained herein is provided by Employment Background Investigations solely for the convenience of its clients. EBI is not providing legal advice or counsel and nothing provided on this document should be deemed as legal guidance or advice. Readers should consult with their own legal counsel to determine their legal responsibilities or if they have questions on any information provided by EBI.