Topic: No Longer Required to Register?

OK, its a great feeling, your no longer required to register. The state where you live has told you so, and your feeling like a king. Not wanting to take the wind out of your sails, there is a "BUT" to your life from now on. A story worth reading: No longer a registered sex offender, but the stigma remains Feb 2010: As a teenager, Ricky Blackman carried an Oklahoma driver's license with the words "sex offender" stamped in red below his picture. His crime? Having sex with a 13-year-old girl when he was 16. The offense occurred when he lived in Iowa, and the label followed him to Oklahoma. As a Tier 3 offender on Oklahoma's sex offender registry, Blackman could not attend high school, visit the town library, or go to his younger brother's football games. But the label did more than limit where Blackman could go. It transformed him from an outgoing, sociable jock into an introvert who has trouble trusting people, his mother says. CLICK on title for remainder of story. [Mary Duval has since passed away] Hopefully you have taken care of the "Topic: Removed From the Registry?" issues we have documented. Now, below we have tried to address many of the "OTHER BUTS" most folks don't think about. Documentation / Proof You are No Longer Required to Register Do you have some form of documented proof you are no longer required to register? A piece of paper or State form signed by an official of the State that told you, you are no longer required to register. This is critical to your life from now on! If you do not have this piece of paper, in your hands, not in some archive of the State, then you need to get that paper. Start with the State Registry folks and ask them for this paper, and do whatever you need to do to get it. They may even ask you to pay a fee for a copy, do what you have to to pay the fee, that paper is critical to the rest of your life. Now, get yourself a loose leaf binder, with 50 or so inserts/pockets in it. You will use this to keep official ORIGINAL documents you receive from every state that you have, or once have, registered in. If, in the future, you are asked to prove something, your proof will be in this Registration Bible, and never give a ORIGINAL DOCUMENT to anyone, if they want a copy, then make one for them. Should you ever have to go to court, they will need the ORIGINAL of any proof you may have. This may keep you out of going to jail/prison on some issue. On to other issues. The Adam Walsh Act (AWA) - SORNA Portion (Title I) I doubt anyone has never heard about this disastrous Act, but now that you have been legally removed from the registry (no longer required to register) in the State where you live (assuming it is the state that removed you from the registry), how will SORNA (Title I of AWA) affect you? This Act (SORNA portion) is retroactive in every respect, according to court decisions so far (February 2011). Worse yet, additions to the Act will likely be retroactive too. One addition is "The Kids Act" and although there are no court rulings on it yet, we must assume it will be retroactive to the begining of SORNA. We strongly suggest that any question with respect to your current status as a person no longer required to register, where you live, in the state that told you you are no longer required to register, be referred to a QUALIFIED local attorney. See our section on Lawyers should you need a referral. ******* MORE COMING ******** For now, have a great day and a better tomorrow. eAdvocate (BACK to the Top Page)