The Adam Walsh Act: Impact on Indian Tribes
Notice: Non PL 280 tribes that do not pass a
tribal resolution by July 27, 2007 will automatically delegate jurisdiction over
sex offender registration to the state.
The
Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (PL 109-248) (SORNA) was
signed into law on the 25 anniversary of the abduction and murder of Adam Walsh
(son of John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted) on July 27, 2006.
- The Act expands the National Sex Offender Registry. It requires that all
states and tribes that decided to “opt in” participate in an integrated,
uniform registry system. All law enforcement will have access to the same
information across the United States, helping prevent sex offenders from
evading detection by moving from state to state or reservation to state. The
U.S. Attorney General’s Office is required to develop the software for the
system.
- Certain information from the Registry will be available to the public on
an internet site.
- The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) provides
tough mandatory minimum penalties for most serious crimes against children
and increases penalties for crimes such as sex trafficking of children and
child prostitution.
- It is a felony for a sex offender to fail to register.
- Sex offenders must register more frequently and in person.
- It provides grants to help institutionalize sex offenders who have shown
they cannot change their behavior and are about to be released from prison.
- It authorizes new regional Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforces
that will provide funding and training to help State and local law
enforcement combat crimes involving the sexual exploitation of minors on the
Internet.
- It creates a new National Child Abuse Registry and requires
investigators to do background checks of adoptive and foster parents before
they are approved to take custody to a child.
- Non-Public Law 280 tribes must pass a resolution or other enactment
indicating their intention and desire to participate in the national system
and meet the requirements of SORNA. Even if a tribe already has its own sex
offender registry, it must pass this resolution if it wants to participate.
If it does not pass a resolution within that time, it will be taken as a
delegation of the responsibility to manage a sex offender registry to the
state, and the state will be granted access to the tribal territory to
implement the law. A tribe electing to function as a Registry may enter into
cooperative agreements with the state to share responsibilities.
- If the tribe is affected by PL 280, the state is automatically
responsible for the implementation of Sex Offender Registration on the
reservation (regardless of whether the tribe may have already implemented
registry) and the tribe must provide the access and cooperate with the
state.
- Funds and software will be made available.
- The Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and
Tracking (SMART) office was created to administer national standards for sex
offender registration and notification.
Action Needed
- Every non-PL 280 tribe that wants to manage its own sex offender
registry and notification system must pass a resolution or other enactment
indicating its intention to implement a sex offender registration system
which complies with the Adam Walsh Act (SORNA) before July 27, 2007.
- The Tribe must send a copy of the resolution or other enactment via
certified mail to the SMART Office c/o Leslie A. Hagen. Her address is:
Leslie Hagen, SMART Office, Office of Justice Programs, Department of
Justice, 810 7th Street, NW, Suite 8241, Washington DC 20531.
- A Tribe electing to participate in the system has until July 27, 2009 to
fully comply with all the requirements of the law, but must make its
election before July 27, 2007.
Tribal elections regarding registration or delegation should be sent to the
SMART Office, within the U.S. Department of Justice. Leslie Hagen is assigned to
work specifically on Indian Country issues related to Adam Walsh. Ms. Hagen can
be reached by email at
Leslie.Hagen@usdoj.gov or by telephone at 202- 616-6459.
Her mailing address at the SMART office is:
Leslie Hagen
SMART Office/Office of Justice Programs
U.S. Department of Justice
810 7th Street, NW
Suite 8241
Washington, DC 20531
The general email address for questions related to Adam Walsh is:
GetSMART@ojp.usdoj.gov
OJP will be holding a
Tribal
Consultation on the Adam Walsh Act on June 4, 2007 in Shelton, Washington.
Click Here to Review
the proposed Guidelines for implementing the programs of the Sex Offender
Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) Office
within the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs.
Click on the following links for important documents related to the Adam
Walsh Act:
Related Articles:
Sarah Deer’s
Article in Indian Country Today.
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