The Idaho Department of Correction's information for sex offenders gives the history in a paragraph: sex offender registration in Idaho began on July 1, 1993, when the legislature created a statutory duty for people convicted of certain felony sex crimes to register with their local sheriff, and in 1998 the legislature repealed that act and enacted the Sexual Offenders Registration Notification and Community Right-to-Know Act, effective July 1, 1998, to strengthen program administration and widen public access to the central registry, now Title 18, chapter 83 of the Idaho Code, sections 18-8301 through 18-8329. The Idaho State Police keep the central registry and its public website, where a registrant can be found by name, by city, by county, by ZIP code or on a map, and where the violent sexual predators are listed on their own page; the Central Sex Offender Registry sits at 700 South Stratford Drive, Suite 120, Meridian, ID 83642-6251, and answers at 208-884-7305, by fax at 208-884-7193 and at idsor@isp.idaho.gov. Under section 18-8323 the department or the sheriff must give the public internet access to the registry, and the law fixes exactly what the public may see: the name with every alias and prior name, the date of birth, the address of every residence or, for a registrant without one, where the person has a home or habitually lives, the address of any school attended, a physical description, the offense of registration and every other sex offense conviction with the place of conviction, a current photograph, and temporary lodging, meaning any place the offender stays for seven or more days away from home, with the website noting when a registrant is in violation or cannot be located. What stays off the site is fixed too: the victim's identity, the Social Security number, arrests that ended without conviction, internet identifiers, passport and immigration information, and anything identifying a relative, housemate, employer or associate of the registrant, with incest reported as a violation of section 18-1506 so that the crime category cannot identify a victim.
The sheriff does the registering, the State Police keep the file and send the mail, and the Department of Correction supervises the offenders on probation and parole, who must follow the registration law, the sex offender agreement of supervision, monthly contact with the probation and parole officer, polygraph testing and treatment, and who must have any change of address investigated and approved by the supervising officer before moving or face a probation violation filed with the sentencing court. Every failure to register case the department finds is referred to local law enforcement for a felony charge. The sheriff's office that registers offenders in each county is on the Idaho county pages.
- Search: the State Police registry website by registrant name, city, county, ZIP code or map, with a separate list of violent sexual predators; the public record shows the addresses, school, description, offenses, photograph and temporary lodging.
- Registration: with the county sheriff within two working days of sentencing, a withheld judgment or moving into the county, then once a year within seven days of a mailed notice, or every three months for a violent sexual predator, with a photograph, fingerprints and palm prints at each visit.
- Fees and checks: $80 a year, or $50 for the first quarter and $10 for each later quarter for a violent sexual predator, waivable for indigency; an address verification form every four months, or every 30 days for a predator, returned within 14 days.
- Duration: life, with a petition to the district court after ten years from release, parole or probation for anyone who is not a recidivist, an aggravated offender or a violent sexual predator, decided on clear and convincing evidence.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Idaho's own systems: the Idaho Department of Correction page of information for sex offenders, the Idaho State Police sex offender registry website, Idaho Code section 18-8304 on who the chapter applies to, Idaho Code section 18-8307 on registration, Idaho Code section 18-8308 on address verification and electronic monitoring, Idaho Code section 18-8310 on release from registration, Idaho Code section 18-8323 on public access, Idaho Code section 18-8324 on dissemination, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who registers in Idaho
Section 18-8304 applies the chapter to anyone convicted on or after July 1, 1993 of, or of an attempt, solicitation or conspiracy to commit, assault or battery with intent to commit rape or lewd conduct with a minor, sexual exploitation by a medical care provider, aggravated sexual battery, sexual abuse and exploitation of a vulnerable adult, sexual abuse of a child under 16, ritualized abuse of a child, felony sexual exploitation of a child, lewd conduct with a minor and the aggravated forms for children under 16 and 12 or under, sexual battery of a minor of 16 or 17, enticing a child over the internet, murder committed in the perpetration of rape, felony indecent exposure, first degree kidnapping for rape, lewd acts on a child under 16 or sexual gratification, second degree kidnapping of an unrelated minor, the commercial sexual activity offenses involving children, rape other than the age based subsection where the defendant is 18, sexual contact with a prisoner, incest, sexual abuse of an animal, sexual abuse of human remains, forcible penetration by a foreign object, video voyeurism of a minor or on a second conviction, racketeering involving the kidnapping of a minor, and human trafficking under chapter 86, as well as the former felony of the infamous crime against nature for convictions entered before July 1, 2022.
It reaches anyone convicted of a substantially equivalent crime in another jurisdiction, a military court or a foreign country who enters Idaho to live, work or study, anyone who had to register in another state when taking up residence here, anyone with a pre-1993 conviction who was in jail or prison or on probation or parole for it on or after July 1, 1993, and any nonresident working or studying in Idaho who must register at home.
A conviction includes a guilty plea or finding whatever the form of the judgment, a withheld judgment included, and no registration is required while the offender is in a Department of Correction institution, a county jail, juvenile corrections or a state mental health institution.
Registering with the sheriff: two working days, $80 a year
Section 18-8307 makes the sheriff the registering officer. Within two working days of coming into any county to establish residence the offender registers with the sheriff of that county, on a form provided by the State Police and approved by the attorney general that the offender signs, and the sheriff takes a photograph and fingerprints and full palm prints of both hands and forwards everything to the department within three working days; the Department of Correction page puts the first deadline at two working days after the sentence is imposed or judgment is withheld, with any address or name change reported to the local registration office in writing within two business days.
The offender then registers annually, or every three months when designated a violent sexual predator: the department mails a nonforwardable notice of registration, quarterly within three months of the last registration for a predator and once a year for everyone else, and within seven days of the mailing date the offender appears in person at the sheriff's office of the county of registration to complete the process, the department telling the sheriff whenever a notice comes back undelivered; the corrections page describes the same cycle as verification forms mailed every four months carrying the day and month of the annual registration.
A violent sexual predator pays the sheriff $50 at the first quarterly registration of a calendar year and $10 at each later quarter of that year, every other offender pays an annual fee of $80, the sheriff may waive the fee for indigency, and each county sends $40 per offender per year to the statewide electronic notification, information sharing and tracking system the Idaho Sheriffs' Association runs. An offender moving to another jurisdiction registers there within two days and stays on the Idaho registry until that registration is complete, which the corrections page states as ten days to register in the receiving state and five business days to tell the Idaho office the new address; a nonresident who works or studies in Idaho registers with the sheriff of that county within two working days, and one employed in counseling, coaching, teaching, supervising or any work with minors registers before starting.
Every written notice of the duty to register carries the warning that it is a felony under section 18-8327 to accept a job at a day care center, group day care facility or family day care home or to be on their premises while children are present, other than to drop off or pick up the offender's own children, and the registration is kept current for life unless a court grants the petition described below.
The address checks every four months or 30 days, and the 14 day rule
Section 18-8308 has the department verify every address between registrations. For a violent sexual predator the department mails a nonforwardable notice of address verification every 30 days, the offender completes, signs and returns it within 14 days of the mailing date, an undelivered or late notice is reported to the sheriff within five days, and the sheriff visits the predator's residence every six months in any case and at any reasonable time after a missed notice; a predator is also tracked by electronic monitoring for the whole probation or parole period, and anyone who tampers with or destroys the equipment commits a felony.
For every other registrant the notice goes out every four months between annual registrations, the return deadline is the same 14 days, which the Department of Correction page shortens in its own instructions to seven days from the stamped mailing date, and an undelivered or late notice sends the sheriff to the residence. A registrant who gives no physical residence address reports in person to the sheriff of the county of residence every 14 days, filling in a form with the name, date of birth, Social Security number and a detailed description of where the person is staying, and the sheriff visits that location at least once a month.
Who is told: three business days
Section 18-8324 gives the department three business days to pass along every registration and every change: to the United States Attorney General for the national registry, to each school and public housing agency in the area where the offender lives, works or studies, to each jurisdiction of residence, work or school and each one a move or change touches, to criminal justice agencies through the state public safety information system, to agencies running employment background checks under the National Child Protection Act, to the social service entities that protect minors in the child welfare system, to volunteer organizations where contact with minors or vulnerable adults might occur, and to any organization, company or individual who asks to be notified of changes.
Everything released carries a cautionary statement about the completeness, accuracy and permitted use of the information and a statement of the penalties in section 18-8326 for misusing it, the information may be used only for the administration of criminal justice or the protection of the public, and anyone who passes it further must repeat the caution.
Life, and the petition after ten years
Registration under the act is for life, section 18-8310 begins, but an offender who is not a recidivist, has not been convicted of an aggravated offense and has not been designated a violent sexual predator may, ten years after release from incarceration or placement on parole, supervised release or probation, whichever came later, petition the district court for a show cause hearing on whether to exempt the person from the duty, in the county of conviction for an Idaho conviction and the county of residence for one from elsewhere.
The petition must give clear and convincing evidence that every period of supervised release, probation or parole was completed without revocation, an affidavit that no criminal charge is pending and no investigation for a violent crime or a listed sex crime is known, proof of service on the county prosecuting attorney and the central registry, a certified copy of the judgment of conviction, clear and convincing evidence of completing a sexual offender treatment program, and affidavits of no felony convictions and no sex offenses during the registration period; the prosecutor and the registry may rebut by affidavit, the court may grant a hearing on a sufficient petition with at least 60 days' notice to all three, the registry may appear as a party, and the exemption is granted only after a hearing in open court, on clear and convincing evidence and with written findings that the requirements are met, that the petitioner is not a recidivist, aggravated offender or predator, and that it is highly probable or reasonably certain the petitioner is not a risk to commit a new violent or listed crime, after which the court may also order the petitioner's information expunged from the registry.
Reading an Idaho result
A record on the State Police site means a lifetime registrant whose address is checked by mail every four months, or a violent sexual predator checked every 30 days, visited by the sheriff twice a year and listed on the predator page; a note that the person is in violation or cannot be located means a missed notice already referred to the sheriff. A missing name may belong to an offender in prison, jail or a state hospital, where the duty pauses, or to one a district court released after ten years.
The sheriff of the county of residence holds the registration form and the fee record, the registry in Meridian holds the mail, and the district court of the county of conviction hears the petition.
Questions about the Idaho sex offender registry
Related Idaho records
Idaho's other public records are covered on this site: the Idaho arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, the Idaho inmate search guide for the Department of Correction resident search and the county jails, the Idaho court records guide for the iCourt portal, and the Idaho county pages for every sheriff and police department.