NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — At least 22 states and Washington, D.C., maintain registries tracking people with criminal convictions beyond sex-based offenses, expanding a system that can impose lasting legal and economic consequences despite limited research showing that most public registries reduce crime or recidivism, according to an analysis published Monday by the Prison Policy Initiative.
In the Prison Policy Initiative briefing, researchers Wendy Sawyer and Leah Wang examined state conviction-based registries modeled after sex-offense registries and found that the practice has expanded to offenses involving violence, drugs, arson, domestic violence, child abuse and other crimes.
The researchers argue that the expansion can impose continued legal and economic consequences on people following conviction without distinct evidence of corresponding public safety benefits.
Public registries for sex-based convictions exist in all 50 states and D.C., but PPI found that nearly half of states have also adopted some form of registry for other convictions.
Twelve states require registration for certain violent convictions, making violent-offense registries the most common type outside of sex-based registries. Six states maintain separate registries for some drug-related convictions, while another state incorporates drug convictions into a combined registry.
Other states have expanded the registry model in different directions. According to PPI, Utah maintains a registry involving white-collar crime, Ohio tracks people with multiple driving-while-intoxicated convictions, Tennessee and Delaware maintain statewide animal-abuse registries, and California maintains a gang database.
Registries involving arson, domestic violence and crimes against children also operate in multiple states.
PPI distinguishes publicly accessible registries from databases available only to law enforcement. The researchers acknowledge that some restricted law enforcement offices require registration or information verification annually or as frequently as four times per year.
Some states require registration in every jurisdiction where an individual lives, works or attends school, requiring additional visits when employment or living circumstances change.
Information collected by some registries includes addresses, phone numbers, physical descriptions, vehicle information, employment information, email addresses, internet usernames, photographs, fingerprints and DNA samples.
Certain states also place visible indicators of registered status on state identification documents. The registration period can last a fixed number of years or, for some convictions, for life.
The requirements can become particularly difficult for people without stable housing, according to PPI.
In Indiana and Minnesota, some people without permanent addresses who are registered for violent convictions must check in with authorities at least once a week. PPI argues that frequent reporting requirements can be especially difficult for people who also lack reliable transportation and may increase the likelihood of technical noncompliance.
Failure to comply can itself result in criminal charges. PPI found that violations such as missing registration deadlines or failing to update personal information can trigger new misdemeanor or felony cases.
In Kansas, people on a registry involving certain sex, violent or drug convictions generally must appear in person at least every three months and shortly after changes involving their residence, employment or education. A registration violation can result in a new felony charge, according to the report.
These consequences raise a broader criminal justice question about whether registry requirements reduce future offending enough to justify creating additional opportunities for arrest and incarceration.
PPI reported that research on the newer conviction-based registries remains limited and said the available scholarship generally does not demonstrate that public registries are an effective strategy for reducing recidivism. Much of the evidence researchers used to evaluate the model instead comes from the larger body of research concerning sex-offense registries.
The report also points to federal recidivism data challenging assumptions that people convicted of certain violent offenses are especially likely to commit the same crime after release.
The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics studied people released from state prisons across 34 states in 2012 and found that 4% of those released after serving sentences for rape or sexual assault were arrested for rape or sexual assault within five years. About 32% of people released after serving sentences for assault were arrested for assault during the same period.
PPI uses those figures to question policies based on the assumption that people convicted of violent or sex-based offenses necessarily present unusually high risks of repeating the same offense. The organization also notes that arrest data are broader than conviction data because arrests can include cases in which charges are later dismissed or do not result in a conviction.
The researchers nevertheless identified one program with evidence of a public safety benefit. A study of California’s Armed and Prohibited Persons System found that increased monitoring and enforcement was associated with a reduction in gun-related homicides.
PPI notes, however, that the California database is different from typical public registries because it is restricted to law enforcement and involves active enforcement by state officials who identify and remove firearms from prohibited individuals.
PPI also argues that conviction-based registries can be both overinclusive and underinclusive. Because eligibility generally depends on the offense of conviction rather than an individualized assessment of risk, some people whose conduct falls within the intended target of a registry may avoid registration through a different conviction, while others may be required to register based on circumstances that provide the public with little context about their actual conduct or current risk.
As states continue applying a model originally associated with sex-based convictions to a growing range of offenses, PPI’s findings place attention on whether the additional monitoring prevents crime or instead creates new paths into the criminal legal system for people who have already been convicted and sentenced.
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