Other States' Offenses Requiring Sex Offender Registration in Texas

 Posted on October 15, 2011 in Uncategorized

Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 62.003 provides:

(a) For the purposes of this chapter, the department is responsible for determining whether an offense under the laws of another state, federal law, the laws of a foreign country, or the Uniform Code of Military Justice contains elements that are substantially similar to the elements of an offense under the laws of this state.(b) The department annually shall provide or make available to each prosecuting attorney's office in this state:(1) the criteria used in making a determination under Subsection (a); and(2) any existing record or compilation of offenses under the laws of another state, federal law, the laws of a foreign country, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice that the department has already determined to contain elements that are substantially similar to the elements of offenses under the laws of this state.(c) An appeal of a determination made under this article shall be brought in a district court in Travis County.

"The department" is the Department of Public Safety. I made a public-information request for the criteria under (b)(1) and the compilation under (b)(2).

The DPS does not have criteria other than 62.003(a). They sent me compilations of the offenses from twenty-three other jurisdictions that they have determined to be substantially similar to Texas sex-offender registration cases.

Each memorandum notes that it is not an exhaustive list.

The jurisdictions:

1. Arizona

2. Arkansas

3. California

4. Colorado

5. Federal

6. Florida

7. Georgia

8. Illinois

9. Indiana

10. Kansas

11. Louisiana

12. Michigan

13. Military

14. Minnesota

15. Missouri

16. Nebraska

17. New Mexico

18. New York

19. Ohio

20. Oklahoma

21. Virginia

22. Washington

23. Wisconsin

Or you can download a ZIPped folder of all 23 memoranda.