Registration as a Sex Offender or Sexual Predator

Sex crime charges are extremely serious. If you are convicted in St. Petersburg, you may face a requirement that you register as a sex offender or sexual predator in Florida. Anyone can access Florida's sex offender registry. This can affect you in your search for a job, housing, education, a professional license, or a life partner. People's lives can be dramatically changed when they need to fulfill this onerous requirement following a conviction of a lewd and lascivious crime or another sex charge. If you are accused or being investigated for a sex crime, you should retain an experienced St. Petersburg sex crime attorney. At Hanlon Law, we defend the rights of the accused.

Both sex offenders and sexual predators can face a requirement to register. There are distinctions between these two classifications, with a sexual predator designation being harsher than a sex offender designation. There are 23 qualifying offenses, including lewd and lascivious battery, child pornography, and sexual battery. Sexual predators are designated as such because they have been convicted of a first-degree felony sex crime, such as sexual battery against a minor or incapacitated person, or two second-degree felony sex crimes, such as unlawful sexual activity with a minor or a lewd and lascivious crime within a decade after October 1993.

A judge issues a formal order regarding the designation. However, either requires a defendant to submit to the Sex Offender Registry. The consequences of a sexual predator designation are harsher. There is a possibility of getting removed from the sex offender registry, but there is no such mechanism to get the sexual predator designation removed.

The registry contains identifying information about you, including your name, date of birth, race, sex, social security number, fingerprints, and height and weight. If you need to register as a sex offender, you must report to your local sheriff's office and update your information within a 48-hour window of certain events, such as moving. If you vacate a transient, temporary, or permanent home and fail to establish another residence, you need to report in person at the sheriff's office of the county where you are located within 48 hours. You are supposed to specify when you intend to vacate or did vacate your home. You are required to provide an address for the place where you will be located, even if it is not a permanent or temporary residence. After that, you need to report every 30 days while maintaining a transient residence. Each sheriff's office has its own procedures about providing information about a transient residence.

In some cases, minors are required to register as a sex offender but can eventually get the designation removed. For example, if you are a minor convicted of lewd and lascivious battery involving another minor, an attorney can help you petition to have the designation removed. To petition, you must be no more than four years older than the victim, the victim must be 14-17, and you must not have any other convictions that required you to register as a sex offender.

If you have completed your prison sentence, you will need to initiate registration as a sex offender. Some people try to avoid registration by simply moving away to a community that does not know about it. However, you can face additional penalties for failing to register when Florida law requires that you do. A sex offender who does not comply with the registration requirements commits a third-degree felony. They can be punished with a maximum of five years’ imprisonment, in addition to probation and fines.

It is extremely important to secure the services of a knowledgeable sex crime attorney if you are being investigated and are worried about registration as a sex offender or sexual predator in St. Petersburg. Our founder, Will Hanlon, has been providing criminal defense representation since 1994 and may be able to help. You can call Hanlon Law at 727.289.0222 or complete our online form.