Audit of the Sex Offender Registry Board Overview of Audited Entity

This section describes the makeup and responsibilities of the Sex Offender Registry Board.

Overview

The Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB) was established by Chapter 239 of the Acts of 1996. The act and its amendments were codified as Sections 178C through 178Q of Chapter 6 of the Massachusetts General Laws. This legislation was enacted to comply with the federal Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, which required states to create a registry of people convicted of sexual offenses.

SORB is overseen by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and has seven full-time board members appointed by the Governor. A chairperson, who serves as the executive and administrative head of the agency, oversees SORB’s operations. Throughout our audit period, SORB had a total of 72 employees, of whom two were part-time. The major units of SORB are Registration, Classification, Hearings, Victim Assistance, Legal, and Administrative. In fiscal year 2021, SORB had state appropriations totaling $5,900,833 and expenditures totaling $5,679,469. According to its website,

The Sex Offender Registry Board promotes public safety by educating and informing the public to prevent further victimization. We register and classify convicted sex offenders according to their risk of re-offense and the degree of danger they pose.

SORB works with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to ensure the proper registration of sex offenders in Massachusetts. SORB is responsible for the classification of each registered sex offender.

Sex Offender Registry Information System

The Sex Offender Registry Information System (SORIS2) is a web-based sex offender registry overseen by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security for use by SORB, as well as by state and local police departments and federal law enforcement, to keep track of registered sex offenders and to identify possible suspects when a sexual offense has been committed. SORIS2 is an application within the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS). At the time of our audit, SORIS2 contained records on 20,257 active¹ convicted sex offenders.

To access SORIS2, a user must first be approved for access to the web-based CJIS portal. Access is gained through a certification process, which includes a background check, the signing of a Department of Criminal Justice Information Services confidentiality agreement to protect personal data and records, and the signing of a Federal Bureau of Investigation security document agreeing to follow the security policy when accessing CJIS.

Sex Offender Registration and Classification Process

SORB or law enforcement agencies enter sex offenders’ information in SORIS2. The information comes from a number of sources, including the courts, another state’s sex offender registry, or a correctional facility during a sex offender’s release from a sentence. Sex offenders must register with SORB and thereafter make sure that their registration information is current. A sex offender who does not keep their information current is considered in violation and could face possible fines of up to $1,000 or jail time of between six months and two-and-a-half years.

SORB provides each sex offender with their initial classification (based on their risk of reoffense and the degree of danger they pose to the public). It also informs them of their right to request a full classification hearing to challenge SORB’s initial classification. The sex offender is informed of their right to have counsel at the classification hearing, and if they cannot afford one, an attorney is appointed to them upon request. A sex offender must request a classification hearing within 20 calendar days of receiving notice of SORB’s initial classification, during which time the sex offender is designated as level 0. The initial classification becomes the sex offender’s final classification after the 20-day period has elapsed, if they do not request a classification hearing.

If a sex offender requests a classification hearing, they remain designated as level 0, and any information about them is not available to the public until SORB holds a classification hearing and makes the final classification. For an incarcerated sex offender, SORB must make its final classification at least 10 days before the sex offender’s earliest possible release date.

A hearing examiner or SORB member conducts classification hearings in accordance with the Standard Rules of Adjudicatory Procedure outlined in Sections 9 through 12 of Chapter 30A of the General Laws. Hearings and administrative records are closed to the public. A hearing’s scope is limited to reviewing evidence and determining the sex offender’s classification and duty to register. According to Sections 1.14(1) and 1.20(1) of Title 803 of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations, SORB bears the burden of proof, must provide “clear and convincing evidence” at all classification hearings, and must issue a final written decision supporting its findings and its final classification of a sex offender.

The sex offender can appeal SORB’s decision to the Massachusetts Superior Court and then, if not satisfied, to an appellate court. During this appeal process, the sex offender retains the final classification assigned by SORB, and their information is public according to that classification, provided a judge does not issue a preliminary ruling preventing the dissemination of this information.

The table below shows the reported status of each active sex offender recorded in SORIS2.

Sex Offender Status	Number of Sex Offenders
Registered	9,896
In Violation	1,129
Moved Out of State	6,531
Incarcerated*	1,741
Deported	958
Other**	2
Total	20,257

*    Incarcerated includes sex offenders who were convicted in Massachusetts and reside in either in-state or out-of-state correctional facilities, but does not include sex offenders who were held before their trial.

**  Other includes sex offenders who did not have a classification—for example, sex offenders who were challenging their registration requirement in court or have not been convicted yet—reflective of data received on February 4, 2022.

SORB’s classification of a sex offender determines whether and how the sex offender’s information may be released to the public. Currently, SORB has the following four levels for sex offenders:

• Level 0: a designation for sex offenders known to SORB who have registered but have not yet been classified,
• Level 1: a classification for sex offenders with low risk of reoffense and danger to the public,
• Level 2: a classification for sex offenders with moderate risk of reoffense and danger to the public, and
• Level 3: a classification for sex offenders with high risk of reoffense and danger to the public.

Sex offenders who are required to register with SORB must either annually verify their registration information, or update their registration information (such as changes to their home addresses, work addresses, secondary addresses, or attendance at institutions of higher education) with SORB 10 days before any changes go into effect. Sex offenders who do not comply annually with this requirement are considered in violation and are subject to arrest, fines, and/or imprisonment. Sex offenders are also considered in violation when they do not register or verify registration information, give false information, or move without notifying SORB. SORB can use interdepartmental service agreements with other executive branch agencies² to try to find addresses for sex offenders considered in violation. SORB can send weekly or monthly lists of these sex offenders to these agencies to ascertain whether these agencies have more recent addresses than what SORIS2 contains for these sex offenders. SORB can then update SORIS2 to reflect the more recent addresses of sex offenders considered in violation.

The table below shows the sex offender levels and reported statuses of sex offenders living in the Commonwealth, reflective of data received on February 4, 2022.

Sex Offender Level	In Violation	Registered	Incarcerated	Total Number of Offenders
0	31	181	385	597
1	119	2,688	37	2,844
2	277	4,745	197	5,219
3	170	2,212	454	2,836
Other*	1	2	7	10
Total	598	9,828	1,080	11,506

*    Other includes sex offenders who did not have a classification—for example, sex offenders who were challenging their registration requirement in court or have not been convicted yet—reflective of data received on February 4, 2022.

SORB or law enforcement agencies add information on level 1, 2, and 3 sex offenders to the sex offender registry, but only level 2 sex offenders classified after July 12, 2013³ and level 3 sex offenders have their information (name; home, work, secondary, and institution of higher education addresses; sexual offenses; physical description; photograph; and registration status) posted to the state’s online sex offender database, which is available to the public. Police departments are notified of sex offenders who live, work, and/or attend institutions of higher education in the departments’ jurisdictions and must release information regarding all level 2 and level 3 sex offenders to the public upon request in accordance with Section 178J of Chapter 6 of the General Laws.

1.    An active sex offender has a duty to register with SORB. The death of a sex offender, the termination (by a law) of their duty to register, and SORB reclassification are examples of how a sex offender can become inactive.

 

2.    SORB entered into interdepartmental service agreements with various executive branch agencies for the purpose of verifying the addresses of sex offenders considered in violation. Some of these agencies include the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Department of Children and Families, and the Department of Revenue.

3.    In Michael Moe & Others v. Sex Offender Registry Board, 467 Mass. 598 (2014), the Supreme Judicial Court held that SORB could not retroactively apply amendments to the Sex Offender Registry Law requiring online publication of level 2 sex offenders’ information because it violated the Commonwealth’s constitutional due process. As a result, SORB cannot publicly disseminate on the internet any information regarding level 2 sex offenders finally classified on or before July 12, 2013.

 

Date published:	October 25, 2023