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. The new registration requirements apply to those persons convicted of a sex offense or a criminal offense against a victim who is a minor after July 1, 1997. 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.

Definitions and Offenses:

Following a list of definitions of a Sexual Offender/Predator and a list of Offenses in which, if the offender is convicted, the offender is considered either sex offender or sexual predator, depending upon the offense.

• Sex Offender: A person convicted of committing or attempting to commit any of the following enumerated sex offenses or a comparable offense under the laws of another state.
• Child Predator: A person convicted of committing or attempting to commit any of the following enumerated offenses or a comparable offense under the laws of another state when the victim is a minor and the defendant is not the parent of the victim.
• Sexually Violent Predator: A person convicted of one of the following enumerated sex offenses and has been determined by the sentencing court to suffer from a mental abnormality or anti-social personality disorder which makes him likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses.

List of Sex Offenses Enumerated in R.S. 15:542(E):

A person convicted of any of the following offenses when the victim is an adult is a sex offender. A person convicted of any of the following offenses when the victim is under the age of 18 and the defendant is not the parent of the victim is a child predator and a sex offender.

Criminal Offenses Against A Victim Who is a Minor:

The following offenses are defined as criminal offenses against a victim who is a minor when the victim is under the age of eighteen and the person is not the parent of the victim. A person convicted of one of the following offenses when the victim is a minor and not the child of the offender is a Child Predator.

NOTE: The information found on this page was derived from the Louisiana State Police Sex Offender and Child Predator Registry Web Site, located at http://www.lasocpr.lsp.org/socpr.