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Program History In 1992, the Louisiana legislature enacted this state's first law mandating the registration of persons convicted of sex offenses and offenses against victims who are minors. The registration was done by local law enforcement agencies. The sheriffs' offices and police departments receiving sex offender registration information were required to forward the offender's fingerprints and related information to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Office of State Police, Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information (the Bureau). The Bureau was charged with maintaining a central registry of sex offenders and child predators. The registry was initially established as a manual reporting and retrieval system. In October of 1994, Congress enacted the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act (the Wetterling Act). In broad terms, the Wetterling Act set guidelines for the state sex offender registration programs. States had three years from the enactment of the law to bring their registration programs into compliance with these federal standards. The Wetterling Act originally restricted release and dissemination of registration information. In 1996, Congress passed "Megan's Law" which amended the Wetterling Act to provide for release of registration information in accordance with state laws. During the 1997 Regular Legislative Session, Act 1147 was passed by the Louisiana Legislature amending this state's existing sex offender registration laws to bring them into conformity with the provisions of the Jacob Wetterling Act, Megan's Law, and the Pam Lyncher Act. In June of 2006, Congress enacted the Adam Walsh Act. On January 1,2008 Louisiana legislature amended the state's existing sex offender registration laws to bring them into conformity with the provisions of the new Adam Walsh Act The amendments also mandate that a central registry of sex offenders be maintained by the Bureau. This registry is known as the "State Sex Offender and Child Predator Registry". The Bureau is also mandated to participate in the National Sex Offender Registry. For questions, comments or suggestions concerning this website, feel free to contact our