A.R.S. § 13-3827 makes the Arizona Department of Public Safety responsible for the internet sex offender website and for verifying the name, address and photograph of every sex offender in the state, and the department's sex offender information page explains that the site is not meant to replace community notification but to let the public find out where offenders are and take precautions. Arizona's law enforcement agencies manage and monitor the whereabouts and compliance of registered offenders through OffenderWatch, which the page links for searches, and the same page lists the 15 county sheriffs' offices where registration happens, from the Maricopa County Sheriff at 111 South 3rd Avenue in Phoenix at (602) 876-1070 and the Pima County Sheriff at 1750 East Benson Highway in Tucson at (520) 351-4982 to the Apache County Sheriff in St. Johns and the Yuma County Sheriff at 141 South 3rd Avenue in Yuma; the department's own web form takes general inquiries only, never a registration.
The department also keeps a current downloadable list of the published registrants, those with risk assessment scores of Level 2 or Level 3 and those who meet the requirements of section 13-3827, as a text file to be opened as comma separated values in a spreadsheet; under A.R.S. § 39-121.03 the list cannot be obtained through that form for a commercial purpose, which goes instead through the Public Records Unit at (602) 223-2345, and the department warns that the information is for community safety only and that using it to threaten, intimidate or harass may bring prosecution. The same page indexes the statutes behind the system, the notification laws in sections 13-3825 and 13-3827, the registration laws in 13-3821 through 13-3824, the residency law in 13-3727 and the dangerous crimes against children sentencing law in 13-705, and every sheriff's office is on the Arizona county pages.
- Search: the Department of Public Safety internet sex offender website through OffenderWatch, plus a downloadable list of every published registrant, which shows name, address, age, photograph, offense and notification level.
- Who is listed: every offender assessed at Level 2 or Level 3, and every adult convicted of sexual assault or of the listed crimes against a child under 12 or sentenced as a dangerous crime against children, whatever the level.
- Deadlines: register with the county sheriff within ten days of conviction or within 72 hours of arriving and staying 72 hours in a county, visit the sheriff every year in the birth month, and report any move, name change, identifier or vehicle within 72 hours, weekends and holidays excluded.
- Notification: the local police chief or sheriff sets Level 1, 2 or 3 from a risk assessment and within 45 days notifies the neighborhood, schools, community groups and prospective employers of a Level 2 or 3 offender by flyer and press release.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Arizona's own systems: the Arizona Department of Public Safety sex offender information page, A.R.S. § 13-3821 on persons required to register, A.R.S. § 13-3822 on notice of moving and changes, A.R.S. § 13-3825 on community notification, A.R.S. § 13-3827 on the internet sex offender website, A.R.S. § 13-3727 on unlawful residency, A.R.S. § 13-3824 on violations, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What the DPS website shows, and who is on it
Section 13-3827 puts two groups on the public website: any offender whose risk assessment came out at Level 2 or Level 3, and, whatever the level, any offender who was 18 or older at the time of the offense and was convicted of sexual assault, of commercial sexual exploitation of a minor, of child prostitution committed before August 9, 2017 or child sex trafficking under subsection B since, or of sexual exploitation of a minor by an offender of at least 21 sentenced under the dangerous crimes against children law, or of sexual abuse, molestation of a child, sexual conduct with a minor, child sex trafficking under subsection A, taking a child for prostitution, luring or aggravated luring a minor, or continuous sexual abuse of a child when the victim was under 12 or the offender was 21 or older and sentenced under section 13-705, including attempts and the same or substantially similar crimes elsewhere.
For each listed registrant the site carries the name, address and age, a current photograph, the offense and, where a risk assessment was completed, the notification level, and the department updates the name, address and photograph every year, confirming each address through the Arizona criminal justice information system or, failing that, through the public and private sector resources investigators use, which the superior court can order to cooperate.
The Motor Vehicle Division sends the department each registrant's license photograph for the site, a separate database on the site holds the online identifiers of Level 2 and 3 registrants and the sites where they are used, never connected publicly to a name, and authorized internet services may compare those identifiers with their own users and must report a match without passing it on. The section does not apply while an offender is in the state prison system.
Registering with the sheriff: ten days or 72 hours
Under section 13-3821 a person convicted or found guilty except insane of one of the listed offenses, or of an equivalent offense in another jurisdiction, or who must register where convicted, registers with the sheriff of the county within ten days after the conviction or within 72 hours, weekends and legal holidays excluded, after entering a county and remaining 72 hours. The list runs from unlawful imprisonment and kidnapping of a minor by someone other than a parent, sexual abuse of a minor, sexual conduct with a minor, sexual assault, molestation and continuous sexual abuse of a child, taking a child for prostitution, child prostitution and child sex trafficking, commercial and other sexual exploitation of a minor, luring and aggravated luring, a second indecent exposure or public sexual indecency involving a child under 15, a third indecent exposure or public sexual indecency, unlawful age misrepresentation and sexual extortion of a victim under 15, to a violation of the registration law itself.
For a prisoner, the Department of Corrections with the department and the sheriff completes the registration before release and forwards the records within three days to the department and the sheriff of the county where the person will live. A sentencing judge may order registration for any sexual offense in chapter 14 or 35.1 or for a crime found to be sexually motivated, and a juvenile court may order it for a delinquent act, a duty that ends at age 25; a nonresident who must register at home registers in Arizona once employed, paid or not, or enrolled in any school for more than 14 consecutive days or more than 30 days in a calendar year; a court may end the duty on completion of probation for someone under 18 at the time of the offense, or suspend or end it after the hearing section 13-923 provides.
What the sheriff records, and the yearly birth month visit
At registration the person signs or electronically fingerprints a statement with every name used, every required online identifier, meaning email, instant message, chat, social networking and similar names, and the sites where each is used, the make, model, year, color, identification number, registration state and plate of any vehicle owned, possessed or regularly operated, the name and enrollment status of any child in the person's legal custody who attends school, and the physical location and address of the residence and whether it is permanent or temporary, with the owner's name for a private home that is not for rent, any post office box, every residence for someone with more than one, registered in person at least every 90 days with the sheriff where the person is, and for a transient a description of any temporary residence with the same 90 day registration.
The sheriff fingerprints and photographs the person and within three days sends everything to the department and the local police chief, and takes a DNA sample from anyone registering on an out of state conviction. Every year in the month of the birthdate the registrant reports in person to the sheriff of the county of registration, confirms all of it in writing, and obtains a new driver license or nonoperating identification license from the Motor Vehicle Division that is valid for one year, giving the division proof of address so that it can update the address and photograph each year and send the department daily address updates.
A registrant who studies, works or carries on a vocation at a college tells the sheriff for that campus and reports every change in that status, the clerk of the superior court tells the sheriff of each conviction within ten days, and the court adds a $250 assessment at sentencing that cannot be waived.
Moving, new identifiers and the 72 hour rule
Section 13-3822 gives a registrant 72 hours, weekends and holidays excluded, to tell the sheriff in person and in writing of a move to or from a residence or to another county, of a new name or address, of the mailing address kept while living somewhere that is not a residence, and of a change from a permanent home to a temporary residence or to transient status, with the every 90 days rule for multiple residences and transients.
Within three days the sheriff of the old county sends the news to the department and the local police chief and the statement, fingerprints and photograph to the sheriff and chief of the new place; when the registrant is subject to community notification the old sheriff alerts the new county's agency, which checks with the department after ten days that the person reregistered and otherwise triggers an investigation and a report to the county attorney.
A change to any required online identifier is reported in person or electronically within 72 hours and before the new identifier is used on the internet, a change in the make, model, color or plate of a vehicle and a change in a child's school enrollment within the same 72 hours, and the department updates its database within three days of hearing from the sheriff.
Community notification by level, within 45 days
Section 13-3825 starts the clock at release: within 72 hours the agency that held or supervised the offender enters the identifying information, a risk assessment and the release date into the state's sex offender profile and notification database, after ten days the department checks whether the person registered and, if not, asks the county attorney for an arrest warrant, and if so forwards the file to the sheriff, who passes it to the chief law enforcement officer of the community, or keeps it where there is none.
That local agency reviews the assessment and whatever else it knows, categorizes the offender into a notification level and within 45 days notifies the community. For a Level 1 offender convicted of a dangerous crime against children and for every Level 2 and Level 3 offender the notice goes out in a nonelectronic form to the surrounding neighborhood, area schools, appropriate community groups and prospective employers, and to the school of any child in the offender's legal custody, with the photograph, the exact address and a summary of the offender's status and criminal background, and a press release with the same information goes to the local electronic and print media; for other Level 1 offenders the agency keeps the information, may share it with other agencies and may tell the people the offender lives with.
An offender arriving from another state is assessed after the local agency obtains that state's records and goes to Level 2 when the records are not enough, a relocation within the state may bring a fresh notice, campus registrants bring a notice to the institution, electronic notice counts only for people who opted in, the duty may be delegated to probation or corrections for supervised offenders, and the section applies to convictions before and after June 1, 1996, though an offender from before that date is assessed only as resources allow and a juvenile only when a court orders it.
Where a Level 3 offender may not live
Section 13-3727 bars a registrant convicted of a dangerous crime against children, here or in an equivalent form elsewhere, who is classified at Level 3 from living within 1,000 feet of a private or public school teaching any grades from kindergarten through twelve or of a child care facility, and bars any such registrant from establishing a residence within 1,000 feet of the former victim's home. The school rule spares someone whose residence predates September 19, 2007 or the arrival of the school or facility, a minor, a person on probation, a person whose civil rights were restored and a person with no new conviction in ten years outside custody; the victim rule yields to the victim's written consent, or a parent's for a minor victim who is not the offender's own, and to a move within 30 days of learning the victim lives there with no contact in between.
Distances run in a straight line from property line to property line, no county, city or town may set a longer distance, and a violation is a class 1 misdemeanor, rising to a class 6 felony for a repeat of the victim residence rules.
How long, and the penalties
Registration for the unlawful imprisonment or kidnapping of a minor lasts ten years from release from prison, jail, probation, community supervision or parole once all restitution is paid, and any other registration continues unless a court ends it under the provisions above; anyone with a prior registrable conviction registers for life, and a juvenile duty ends at 25. Under section 13-3824 failing to comply with any requirement is a class 4 felony, and missing the yearly birth month confirmation is a class 6 felony with a further $250 assessment that no court may waive.
Reading an Arizona result
A listing means a Level 2 or Level 3 assessment, or an adult conviction grave enough to be posted at any level, with the address confirmed by the department within the past year and the level set by the local police; a registrant absent from the site may be a Level 1 offender known to the sheriff and the local agency, or a prisoner, since the website excludes anyone in the state prison system. The sheriff of the county of registration holds the full file and the yearly confirmation record, and the local chief's office holds the notification decision.
Questions about the Arizona sex offender registry
Related Arizona records
Arizona's other public records have guides on this site: Arizona arrest records for what a booking makes public, Arizona inmate search for the Department of Corrections and county jail lookups, Arizona court records for the public access case lookup, and the Arizona county pages for all 15 sheriffs.