Sex Offender Information

General Information

A sex offender is any person who resides or works in the Commonwealth and who has been convicted of a sex offense, or who has been adjudicated as a youthful offender or as a delinquent juvenile by reason of a sex offense, or a person released from incarceration or parole or probation supervision or custody with the department of youth services for such a conviction or adjudication, or a person who has been adjudicated a sexually dangerous person or a person released from civil commitment on or after August 1, 1981.

The Sex Offender Registry Board is the state agency responsible for keeping track of convicted sex offenders and classifying each offender so that the public may receive information about dangerous sex offenders who live or work in each community. The goal of the Sex Offender Registry is to educate the public and to prevent further victimization. Please check the online resources on this website for the link to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board. There you can view sex offender information in your community.

CLASSIFICATION INFORMATION

Sex offenders will be classified according to the degree of dangerousness they pose to the public and their likelihood for re-offense. An offender's classification can either be Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3:

Level 1 or "low risk" Offender:
Where the Sex Offender Registry Board determines that the risk of the offender to re-offend is low and the degree of dangerousness posed to the public by that offender is not such that a public safety interest is served by public availability, the Board shall give that offender a Level 1 designation. Information on Level 1 offenders will not be available to the public. Neither the police nor the Board has authority to disseminate information to the general public identifying a Level 1 offender. Information identifying Level 1 offenders may only be given to the Department of Correction, any county correctional facility, the Department of Youth Services, the Department of Social Services, the Parole Board, the Department of Probation and the Department of Mental Health, all city and town police departments and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for law enforcement purposes.

Level 2 or "moderate risk" Offender:
Where the Board determines that the risk of re-offense is moderate and the degree of dangerousness posed to the public is such that a public safety interest is served by public availability of registration information, it shall give a Level 2 designation to the sex offender. The public shall have access to the information regarding a Level 2 offender through the local police departments and through the Sex Offender Registry Board. To obtain this information you must fill out a request form.

Level 3 or "high risk" offender:
Where the Board determines that the risk of re-offense is high and the degree of dangerousness posed to the public is such that a substantial public safety interest is served by active dissemination, it shall give a Level 3 designation to the sex offender. The public shall have access to the information regarding a Level 3 offender through the local police departments and through the Sex Offender Registry Board.