Where to find predators in your area

Only information on registered sex offenders allowed to be disclosed under California law appears on this website. Under state law, some registered sex offenders are not subject to public disclosure, so they are not included on this site. State law does not allow offenses other than the crimes for which the convicted sex offender is required to register to be disclosed here.

Errors and Omissions. Information pertaining to schools, parks and street map data is obtained with permission of and through a license agreement with Google Inc.

Other information on this website is compiled from reports by local law enforcement. Much of that information is gathered from persons who are required to register as sex offenders and to provide, at least once a year, their addresses and other information to local law enforcement. Because information can change quickly, and there may be gaps in data received, the California Department of Justice makes no representation, either express or implied, that the information on this site is complete or accurate.

Neither the Department of Justice nor the State of California shall be held responsible for any errors or omissions on this website or produced by secondary dissemination of this information. Mistaken Identities. Every state maintains its own registry, notes Arsenault. For instance, in California, it's the Megan's Law site , named for a federal law, and informal name for subsequent state laws, requiring law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders.

In Seattle, it's You can access a list of individual state registries on the FBI's website , or through your county's local sheriff's office or police department. Clearly, finding sex offenders who haven't registered can be more challenging, Arsenault says.

In other words, you have to know who you're searching for. To do this, you'd want to head to a public search website like BeenVerified. These maps take sex offenders' locations into consideration. By Maressa Brown Updated May 04, Save Pin FB More. Here, six expert-suggested tips for finding sex offenders in your neighborhood. Here's What Parents Need to Know. Knowing about potential threats in your area can help you stay safe, as well as protect your family from tragedies.

Community awareness is one of the best ways that communities as a whole can avoid being torn apart by the catastrophes that sexual predators can bring with them. In a young New Jersey girl named Megan Kanka was raped and murdered by her neighbor who was both a known pedophile and a convicted sex offender. After this happened lawmakers all over the country scrambled to pass laws to help prevent this from happening in their states.

They realized that having this information available for the public would make such tragedies much more difficult for predators to attempt and succeed. By there were a lot of states that had passed their own version, and the federal government in Washington D. In , nearly 30 years after his death, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was passed and this required all states to provide information about offenders that are both moderate and high-risk offenders at a bare minimum.

Most states provide more information than this, and every state does things a little differently when it comes to both the laws they have that govern sex offenders and how they handle their sex offender registries. In most cases, you can expect to find the name, address, physical description, picture, and charges of the offender. This information is very important for communities trying to ensure that they know who they need to be on the lookout for, and can help you keep your family safe for the same reason.