Sex offender safety is important no matter the state you live in. Fortunately, finding the Texas sex offender registry is a breeze if you know where to look. This information has been easily available to the public as a public safety measure. Every state has its own sex offender registry, and Texas happens to be one of the trailblazers in this area. So regardless of if you’re trying to keep your children or yourself safe from sex offenders, the information you need is just a few short clicks away. 

Finding the Texas Sex Offender Registry

Finding the registry is a simple enough task. Most people will simply Google “Texas Sex Offender Registry” and once you hit enter it should be one of the top results. This Texas sex offender registry is hosted by the Texas Department of Safety and they pride themselves in providing all sorts of information about hazards in the public. 

You can also be linked to the Texas sex offender registry by going through the National sex offender registry. That website is hosted by the US Department of Justice and is a collection of all of the sex offender registries from every state, territory, Native territory, and Washington D.C. If you’re looking for a wide variety of resources for more than one state, the National sex offender registry is the best place to look.

The Origins of Sex Offender Registries

Sex offender registries weren’t always common practice in every state. The catalyst that made these registries so common was the gruesome death of Megan Kanka. Megan was a young girl from New Jersey and her life was tragically cut short when her known pedophile neighbor raped and murdered her. After this lawmakers realized something very important; tragedies like this could be avoided if there was some way to let the public know about sex offenders in their community.

There have been many amendments to Megan’s Law on a federal level, the most notable being the 2006 Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was passed. This act provided a standard operating practice for how every state handled its sex offender registry. Under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act every state needed to provide information about sex offenders that pose a mid to high-level threat to their communities. This has resulted in it being more difficult for sex offenders to recommit nationwide. 

Texas Registration Laws

As it was mentioned a little early in this article, every state has control over its own sex offender laws. In the state of Texas, all sex offenders must register within 48 hours of release. They must register within 7 days of any move, and in some cases, they must register 7 days before they move. Sex offenders, even out-of-state offenders that are still required to register, face harsh punishments if they fail to follow the guidelines. The minimum punishment for non-compliance is a misdemeanor, and the maximum punishment is a felony. Each consecutive offense comes with harsher and harsher punishments.

Texas Sex Offender Safety

Sex offender safety is one of the most important topics to almost every American family. Ensuring that your family isn’t targetted by sex offenders is important to ensuring that your family isn’t the victim of a horrific tragedy. The victims of sex offenders could end up in intensive therapy, laid up in the ICU, or dead. Avoiding these tragedies is important to a lot of entities, both private and public, so finding all of the information you need to always be vigilant is a remarkably easy task for anyone with an internet connection. 

***Registered Offenders List is a free online resource that strives to offer helpful content and resources to its visitors regarding registered sex offenders that live near you.