ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO R. GONZALES ANNOUNCES N. CAROLINA JOINS NATIONAL SEX OFFENDER PUBLIC REGISTRY WEB SITE

     WASHINGTON, D.C. - Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today announced the addition of North Carolina to the National Sex Offender Public Registry (NSOPR) website, which provides real-time access to public sex offender data nationwide with a single Internet search. The Department of Justice-sponsored website allows parents and concerned citizens to search existing public state and territory sex offender registries beyond their own states.

     The Department of Justice announced the activation of a national registry website on July 20 and initially linked 22 states to the site. With today's announcement, the registry connects 39 states, the District of Columbia and a territory to the site. Remaining states and territories are expected to be linked by the end of the year. The list of the states and territories currently available through NSOPR follows.

     "The Department of Justice is committed to working with our state and local partners to keep our communities safe from sexual predators," said Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. "The silent sex offender can be just as dangerous as notorious neighborhood gang members, and because of this we must keep parents and communities informed and engaged. Sharing information with concerned citizens and parents is an integral part of our strategy to protect communities from these predators who wish to harm the most vulnerable among us."

     The NSOPR provides an opportunity for all states and territories to participate in an unprecedented public safety resource by sharing comprehensive, free-of-charge public sex offender data with citizens nationwide. With a single query from any web-capable computer, NSOPR searches public state and territory sex offender registries to deliver matched results based on a name, state, county, city/town or Zip code. The site is located at www.nsopr.gov.

     The technology for NSOPR is both time and cost-effective. Web services and DOJ's Global Justice eXtensible Markup Language (XML) common computer language establish a link between existing state and territory public sex offender registries. The link allows data from different hardware and software systems to be recognized and shown through the national search site.

     With more than 500,000 registered sex offenders nationwide, access to public registry information nationwide is essential for citizens to help identify sex offenders beyond their own streets or neighborhoods.

     States/Territories Linked to the National Sex Offender Public Registry:

     The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP is headed by an Assistant Attorney General and comprises five component bureaus and two offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and the Office for Victims of Crime, as well as the Office of the Police Corps and Law Enforcement Education and the Community Capacity Development Office, which incorporates the Weed and Seed strategy and OJP's American Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Desk. More information can be found at: www.ojp.usdoj.gov.

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