Sandra Perez
CJ 3318 Sex Crimes
Dr. Lori Brusman Lovins
September 29, 2014
Texas State Laws on Sex Offenders
In order to be registered as a sex offender, one needs to have been convicted of a crime that involves a sexual act defined by the state or federal law, which requires that they be put on the sex offender list after release or parole (Agan 210). In the State of Texas, the law requires that the adult or juvenile who has committed a crime register with the law enforcement agency in the city they live in, should they not live in a governed entity, they should register with whatever law enforcement authority is in place. The registration involves the provision of information that is inclusive, albeit not limited to the sexual offenders' name, address, color photograph, the nature of the offence and any other relevant data. In addition, they need to regularly to visit the registering authority to update the information on matters such as address change.
Should one fail to register as a sex offender, they are liable for felony prosecution that could result in being taken back to prison or having their parole revoked.
The public can access these records through a variety of ways availed by the State of Texas, including a statewide database that maintains updated information on all registered sex offenders accessible to anyone freely at any time. The general public can access the information herein through the website https://records.txdps.state.tx.us/soSearch/default.cfm . In addition, native law administration agencies in Texas are by law mandated to have a sex offender registry with information on all the registered sex offenders in the area. Based on the nature of the crime, the laws in Texas allow authorities to publish some of the sex offender registration information on local newspapers...