New changes to Nevada sex offender registration tier levels begin July 1
Submitted by editor on Fri, 06/03/2016 - 10:49am
Significant changes to Nevada’s sex offender registration system are finally happening. Assembly Bill 579 (AB 579) aligns Nevada sex offender registration laws with the federal requirements of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.
While enacted in 2007, AB 579 has been on hold pending the outcome of litigation seeking to stop implementation. On January 22, 2016 the Nevada Supreme Court ordered that any further attempts to delay implementation be denied, allowing for AB 579 to go into effect.
AB 579’s greatest impact is in how sex offenders will be placed in tier level classifications. An offender’s tier level classification impacts three areas: how often an offender must appear in person to verify registration information; how many years an offender must register; and whether certain tier 1 (low level) offenders are exempt from website disclosure.
AB 579 eliminates the use of subjective criteria to assign an offender’s tier. Rather, tier levels are established by the offender’s conviction and age of the victim. If there was sexual contact and the victim was younger than 13 years of age or if the offender was convicted of a sexually violent offense, regardless of the victim’s age, an offender is placed into tier 3. Offenders convicted of a crime in which the victim was at least 13 years of age but less than 18 years of age is placed into tier 2. All other offenders are placed into tier 1.
An offender’s new tier level identifies how often he or she must appear in-person at local law enforcement agencies to provide required information. Under the new law, tier 1 offenders must report annually, tier 2 offenders must report every 180 days, and tier 3 offenders must report every 90 days.
The new tier level classification also denotes the duration a sex offender is required to register. Tier 1 offenders must register for 15 years, tier 2 offenders for 25 years and tier 3 offenders for their lifetime. Nevada currently has approximately 6,500+ active registered sex offenders throughout the state which fluctuates daily due to incoming and outgoing offenders. Of those 6,500+, the amount of each tier is as follows:
Tier 1 = 1646 = 25.3%
Tier 2 = 1790 = 27.5%
Tier 3 = 3014 = 46.3%
Not required to Register = 62 = 1%
The State of Nevada, Department of Public Safety is implementing the new law, NRS 179D.480 pursuant to Assembly Bill 579, effective July 1, 2016. For more information, please reference Nevada Revised Statute 179D or contact the Sex Offender Registry Unit at (775) 684-6262 ext. 2 Monday-Friday 8am-5pm or visit our website at www.nvsexoffenders.gov.
