Statutes Governing Sex Offender Registration

Introduction to the Michigan Sex Offenders Registration act

Created by Public Acts 286, 287, 294, and 355 of 1994; MCL 28.723 through 28.736

Michigan Sex Offenders Registration Act (a.k.a. SORA) was passed in 1994. It was created in response to the federal legislature’s Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act (a.k.a. Wetterling Act, 42 USC 14071, et seq.). This legislation was intended to prevent convicted sex offenders from committing future sex crimes. Initially, its only requirement was that individuals convicted of specific sex crimes had to provide their addresses to state and local law enforcement. Since then, SORA has greatly expanded its registration and monitoring requirements. For instance, currently SORA requires life-time electronic monitoring for certain sex offenders, prohibits sex offenders from working, living, or loitering in “student safety zones,” and provides penalties for violating portions of the act. Furthermore, SORA also provides the public with information on who sex offenders are and where they are located. This is done by an internet database that includes a photo of the sex offender, as well as an email notification system, where citizens may sign up to receive an email when a sex offender moves into a certain zip code. Both are available through the Michigan State Police at http://www.mipsor.state.mi.us/.

Below you will find a list of crimes that require registration as a sex offender. Please note that this list may not be all inclusive and that crimes may be added or removed at any time, through legislative acts.

• Accosting, Enticing, or Soliciting a Child for Immoral Purposes
• Child Sexually Abusive Activity or Material
• Crime Against Nature or Sodomy (if the victim is a minor)
• Indecent Exposure While Engaging in a Lewd/Lascivious Act
• Three Convictions of Disorderly Person and/or Indecent Exposure
• Gross Indecency Between Male Persons, or Female Persons, or Male and Female Persons (if the victim is a minor or the offender is not adjudicated as a minor)
• Kidnapping (if the victim is a minor)
• Leading, Taking, Carrying Away, Decoying, or Enticing
• Soliciting, Accosting, or Inviting to Commit Prostitution
• Pandering
• Criminal Sexual Conduct in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th degrees
• Any crime that is a sex crime against a person who is a minor
• Any crime that was committed, at the time, by a sexually delinquent person
• Any offense that is substantially similar to a sex offense listed under federal, military, or tribal law, or the law of another state or country

Please note that this is a body of law that is constantly changing. SORA may be modified at any time by Michigan’s legislature. Similarly, the Wetterling Act is also subject to amendment. You can find out about pending legislation and read the SORA statutes, as enacted, at the Michigan legislature’s website, http://www.legislature.mi.gov. Similarly, you can access information on federal statutes at the United States Congress’s website, http://www.house.gov/, and the United States Senate’s website, http://www.senate.gov/.

Lifetime Electronic Monitoring

You will be placed on electronic monitoring for the rest of your life if you are…

• Convicted of 1st degree CSC and placed on parole
• Convicted of 2nd degree CSC with a child under 13 years old

If you are placed on electronic monitoring, you may be punished up to 2 years and/or fined up to $2,000 if you…

• Damage the electronic monitoring device
• Do not inform the Department of Corrections that your electronic monitoring device is not functioning or is damaged
• Do not reimburse the Department of Corrections for the cost of the electronic monitoring

Student Safety Zone

MCL 28.723-28.736

A “Student Safety Zone” is:

• The area within 1,000 feet of school property
• This school property includes private, public, elementary, secondary, and pre-schools

I. General Rule

If you are registered on the Sex Offender Registry, you may not do any of the following within a Student Safety Zone:

• Reside
• Work
• Loiter

II. Residing or Working within a Student Safety Zone

There are limited circumstances under the Michigan Statute in which a registered sex offender can live and work within a School Safety Zone. These include the “grandfather clause” circumstances where, for instance, the residence was established prior to the enactment of the statute or where the school was established after the employment began. These circumstances require careful analysis on a case by case basis. Our firm has successfully defended criminal prosecutions for safety zone violations and can assist you if you are charged with this crime. Like most SORA issues, this area of law is constantly being changed by the Michigan Legislature.

Remember, that even if you are permitted to live or work in the Student Safety Zone, you are strictly prohibited from communicating with or contacting, in any way, a minor within the Student Safety Zone. If you do communicate or make contact with a minor within the Student Safety Zone, you are violating this provision and you may no longer reside within the Student Safety Zone. Zone.

III. Violation of this Provision

The first time you violate any part of this provision…

• You are guilty of a misdemeanor
• You may be fined up to $1,000 and/or
• Imprisoned for up to 1 year

If you violate this provision more than once…

• You are guilty of a felony
• You may be find up to $2,000 and/or
• Imprisoned for up to 2 years

Free attorney consultation: Fill out our contact form or call 1-866-766-5245 twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week to talk to an experienced Michigan defense lawyer about your CPS case. Our attorneys represent clients throughout Michigan, including Lansing, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Holland, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Detroit, Saginaw and Flint.