What are Exceptions to Registering as a Sex Offender in California?
Full Question:
Answer:
The Sex Offender Tracking Program is responsible for determining if any sex offender registrant who applies for exclusion from the Internet web site qualifies for exclusion. Registrants whose only registrable sex offenses are for the following offenses may apply for exclusion: (1) sexual battery by restraint (Penal Code § 243.4, subd. (a)); (2) misdemeanor child molestation (Penal Code § 647.6, or former section 647a); or (3) any offense which did not involve penetration or oral copulation, the victim of which was a child, stepchild, grandchild, or sibling of the offender, and for which the offender successfully completed or is successfully completing probation. Registered sex offenders who are granted exclusion from the Internet web site must still register as sex offenders.
Sex offenders who successfully complete probation may apply to have the offense dismissed under Penal Code section 1203.4, but dismissal does not relieve the person from the duty to register as a sex offender. Penal Code section 290(a)(2)(F).
For further discussion, please see:
http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=290-294
Please see the following CA statutes:
290.004. Any person who, since July 1, 1944, has been or hereafter
is determined to be a mentally disordered sex offender under Article
1 (commencing with Section 6300) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 6
of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or any person who has been
found guilty in the guilt phase of a trial for an offense for which
registration is required by this section but who has been found not
guilty by reason of insanity in the sanity phase of the trial shall
register in accordance with the Act.
290.019. (a) Notwithstanding any other section in the Act, a person
who was convicted before January 1, 1976, under subdivision (a) of
Section 286, or Section 288a, shall not be required to register
pursuant to the Act for that conviction if the conviction was for
conduct between consenting adults that was decriminalized by Chapter
71 of the Statutes of 1975 or Chapter 1139 of the Statutes of 1976.
The Department of Justice shall remove that person from the Sex
Offender Registry, and the person is discharged from his or her duty
to register pursuant to either of the following procedures:
(1) The person submits to the Department of Justice official
documentary evidence, including court records or police reports, that
demonstrate that the person's conviction pursuant to either of those
sections was for conduct between consenting adults that was
decriminalized.
(2) The person submits to the department a declaration stating
that the person's conviction pursuant to either of those sections was
for consensual conduct between adults that has been decriminalized.
The declaration shall be confidential and not a public record, and
shall include the person's name, address, telephone number, date of
birth, and a summary of the circumstances leading to the conviction,
including the date of the conviction and county of the occurrence.
(b) The department shall determine whether the person's conviction
was for conduct between consensual adults that has been
decriminalized. If the conviction was for consensual conduct between
adults that has been decriminalized, and the person has no other
offenses for which he or she is required to register pursuant to the
Act, the department shall, within 60 days of receipt of those
documents, notify the person that he or she is relieved of the duty
to register, and shall notify the local law enforcement agency with
which the person is registered that he or she has been relieved of
the duty to register. The local law enforcement agency shall remove
the person's registration from its files within 30 days of receipt of
notification. If the documentary or other evidence submitted is
insufficient to establish the person's claim, the department shall,
within 60 days of receipt of those documents, notify the person that
his or her claim cannot be established, and that the person shall
continue to register pursuant to the Act. The department shall
provide, upon the person's request, any information relied upon by
the department in making its determination that the person shall
continue to register pursuant to the Act. Any person whose claim has
been denied by the department pursuant to this subdivision may
petition the court to appeal the department's denial of the person's
claim.
