Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA)

Sex Offender Notification
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Sex offender registration is the registry for law enforcement and public purposes containing information on persons convicted of sexual offenses. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Programs (2022), the registration traces its origin to 1994, when the federal government passed the Wetterling Act. The act necessitated all states to adopt sex offender registration laws if they were to benefit from federal funding. The law outlined the offenses to be registered, identified information to be included, and the lengths of the requirements. In 1996, several amendments were made, named Megan’s Law, which required creating an internet site containing information about sex offenders to protect the public. Challenges with its implementation gave way to the Adam Walsh Act of 2006, which established the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) (U.S. Department of Justice Programs, 2022). SORNA outlined the need for registration, the specific information to be entered, and the length of the registration. Also, it provided more comprehensive guidelines and enabled uniformity in registration.
The New York State Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) was signed into law by Governor George Pataki in1995, July 25, establishing a Sex Offender Registry in New York. SORA was established to help in protecting the people by requiring sex offenders to register with the state and make the information public for the public to be aware of sex offenders living amongst them. The regulation, modeled after the Wetterling Act, categorizes sex offenders by their possibility of re-offending. These categories are levels 1, 2, and 3, the highest risk. Also, it classified them as sexually violent offender, sexual predator, or predicate offender, who must register for life, other than the level 1 offender who registers for 20 years (New York State: Division of Criminal Justice Services, n.d.).
To manage high-risk offenders in communities, treatment for high-risk offenders should be implemented. According to Harrison (2010, p.105-108), psychotherapy techniques and pharmacotherapy are utilized in treating high-risk offenders. Psychotherapy techniques such as cognitive be...