What is the Sex Offender and Public Protection Program?

A person convicted of a qualifying sex offense must register with the Sheriff of the county where the person resides. If a person moves to North Carolina, they must register within 10 days of establishing residence in the state, or whenever that individual has resided in the state for 15 days, whichever is first.

If the individual convicted of a Sex Offense is a North Carolina resident, that individual must register within 10 days of release from jail or immediately upon a conviction if no imprisonment is imposed. This registration is required for a MINIMUM of 10 years.

Each individual must provide to the Sheriff of the county that they reside in with: the person’s full name, alias, date of birth, sex, race, height, weight, eye color, hair color, drivers license number, home address, type of offense, date of conviction, current photograph, fingerprints, statement of the persons purpose of education or employment.

If an individual decides to travel for leisure, work, or education for more than 10 days within a 30 day period, they must also register with the Sheriff’s office of the county they will be visiting. Change of addresses must also be made to the Sheriff’s department within 10 days.

If an individual fails to register, falsifies information, notice or return additional verification that is required they will be guilty of a Class F Felony in which a jail sentence may be imposed. Furthermore, any family member or individual who has knowledge of any noncompliance with a requirement of the Sex Offender Registry Program can and will be convicted of a Class H Felony.

Additional burdens that may be placed on an individual are residential restrictions set forth by § 14-208.16. This statute states that a person may not knowingly reside within 1,000 feet of the property on which any public or nonpublic school or child care center is located. Further burdens are set forth under § 14-208.17 making it unlawful for any person to register under this act to work for any person or as a sole proprietor, with or without compensation, at any place where a minor is present and the person’s responsibilities or activities include instruction, supervision, or care of a minor or minors.

No matter what your criminal offense, being placed on a Sex Offender Registry is a prison term within itself. Don’t let this happen to you. If you or a loved one is accused of a crime that will result in their name being placed on the Sex Offender Registry-List, it is important that you act soon, even before a charge is brought.

The current deadlines are set in business days

In North Carolina the initial registration deadlines under G.S. 14-208.7(a) are counted in business days rather than calendar days. A State resident with a reportable conviction must register with the sheriff of the county where the person resides within three business days of release from a penal institution or of arrival in a county to live outside a penal institution, or immediately upon conviction for a reportable offense where an active term of imprisonment was not imposed. A person moving into North Carolina from another state must register within three business days of establishing residence here, or once the person has been present in the State for 15 days, whichever comes first.

G.S. 14-208.7(a1) extends the duty to a nonresident student and a nonresident worker who has a reportable conviction or is required to register in their state of residency. That person registers with the sheriff of the county where they work or attend school. For a person working in Charlotte while living in another state, that is the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.

What the registration form has to contain

G.S. 14-208.7(b) sets out the information required. It goes beyond identifying details to cover education, employment and internet presence, and it is provided in person to the sheriff rather than by post. It is worth keeping this list distinct from the shorter public-record subset in G.S. 14-208.10: not everything collected on the form is available to a member of the public.

The photograph and the fingerprints are taken by the sheriff at the time of registration and, the statute specifies, without charge.

• Full name, each alias, date of birth, sex, race, height, weight, eye color, hair color, driver license number and home address
• The name used at the time of conviction, any alias used then, and the name as it appears on the sentencing judgment
• “The type of offense for which the person was convicted, the date of conviction, and the sentence imposed”
• A current photograph and the person’s fingerprints, both taken by the sheriff without charge
• A statement about student status or plans to enroll within the following year
• A statement about employment or expected employment at an institution of higher education within the following year
• “Any online identifier that the person uses or intends to use”

The reporting duties that follow registration

Registration is a continuing obligation rather than a single event. G.S. 14-208.9 requires a registrant who changes address to report in person and provide written notice of the new address to the last registering sheriff not later than the third business day after the change; where the move is to another county in the State, the person must also report in person to the sheriff of the new county and provide written notice not later than the tenth day after the change. A person intending to move out of State must report in person to the sheriff of the county of current residence at least three business days before leaving, and a person who reports that intention but then remains must report again on the timetable the section sets.

The same section covers changes in academic status, changes in employment status at an institution of higher education, changes of name and new or changed online identifiers. Each of those carries its own in-person reporting deadline — three business days for a change of name and for changes in academic and educational employment status, and 10 days for a new or changed online identifier. Verification is separate again: under G.S. 14-208.9A the Department of Public Safety mails a nonforwardable verification form every year on the anniversary of the initial registration date and again six months after that date, and the registrant must return it in person to the sheriff within three business days of receipt.

Failing to comply is a Class F felony

G.S. 14-208.11 provides that a person required to register who wilfully commits any of the acts it lists “is guilty of a Class F felony”. The list includes failing to register, failing to notify the last registering sheriff of a change of address, failing to return a verification notice as required, forging or submitting information or verification notices under false pretences, failing to report in person to the sheriff’s office as required, failing to inform the registering sheriff of enrollment or employment changes at an institution of higher education, reporting an intention to reside in another jurisdiction and then remaining in the State without reporting, failing to notify the sheriff of out-of-county employment where a temporary residence is established, and failing to inform the registering sheriff of any new or changed online identifiers.

The word “wilfully” is an element. So is the underlying duty: a person who is not required to register cannot commit the offense. Both are matters the State must establish, and both have been the basis of appellate litigation in North Carolina.

Residence, employment and presence restrictions

In North Carolina, registration brings three separate prohibitions, each carrying its own felony class and each with its own scope. G.S. 14-208.16 provides that a registrant under Article 27A “shall not knowingly reside” within 1,000 feet of any property line of a property on which a public or nonpublic school or child care center is located, or within any structure any portion of which is within that distance; a violation is a Class G felony. That restriction applies only to a registrant who did not establish residence at the location, in accordance with subsection (d), before 16 August 2006.

G.S. 14-208.17(a) makes it unlawful for a person required to register “to work for any person or as a sole proprietor, with or without compensation, at any place where a minor is present and the person’s responsibilities or activities would include instruction, supervision, or care of a minor or minors”. Subsection (b) reaches a person who accepts a minor into their care or custody at a residence knowing that someone required to register lives there. A violation of either is a Class F felony. G.S. 14-208.18 makes it a Class H felony to be knowingly on premises intended primarily for the use, care or supervision of minors, within 300 feet of such a location on other premises, or at places where minors frequently congregate — but subsection (c) limits the section to registrants whose offense falls within defined categories, principally offenses in Article 7B of Chapter 14, offenses where the victim was under 18, and violations of G.S. 14-190.16, 14-190.17 or 14-190.17A, with the narrowest of its subdivisions limited further still.

Duration, and how it can change

Registration under this program is maintained for “a period of at least 30 years following the date of initial county registration” under G.S. 14-208.7(a). After ten years of registration a person may petition the superior court under G.S. 14-208.12A to terminate the 30-year requirement, and the court may grant relief only on the findings that section specifies, with at least three weeks’ notice to the district attorney, who may present evidence in opposition. A victim who elected to receive notice may appear and be heard. If the petition is denied, another may be filed one year from the date of the denial.

A person who is a recidivist, who is convicted of an aggravated offense, or who is classified as a sexually violent predator does not register under this program at all. Those categories fall under the Sexually Violent Predator Registration Program created by G.S. 14-208.6A and register for life under G.S. 14-208.23, with verification every 90 days under G.S. 14-208.24. Outside those categories, G.S. 14-208.6C remains the only provision that ends a registration requirement outright.

Common questions

Written for North Carolina law and reviewed by David P. Sheehan, attorney, Charlotte. General information, not legal advice — see the disclaimer.

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