The Sex Offenders Registration Act, MCL 28.721 and the sections that follow, directs the Michigan State Police to keep a public registry and says what the public may see of it, and the Public Sex Offender Registry is the site that shows it, with a warning that the offense link on a record reflects the statute as it reads today rather than at conviction, that much of the information comes from the registrants themselves, and that the State Police makes no representation that any of it is accurate. The State Police registry page explains the search: by name, which needs both a first and a last name and accepts partial ones; by registration number or Michigan Department of Corrections number; by street address, which must come with a city, county or ZIP Code; or by city, county or ZIP Code alone for everyone published there. A neighborhood map takes an address, city, ZIP Code or county and a radius of a quarter mile, a half mile, one, two or five miles, and three standing lists show every published registrant, every incarcerated one and every non-compliant one. A record carries the name, date of birth, registration number, photograph, registration details, aliases, scars, marks and tattoos, the offense, the address, the campus, the employer and the vehicles, and clicking Map Offender draws the address when it can be mapped.
A registrant's status reads active for someone living in Michigan, incarcerated, pending out of state while a move is under way, inactive out of state for a resident of another state who works or studies in Michigan, absconder for someone gone from the last address, homeless, school only or employment only; a compliance status names the failure, an address, campus, employment, verification, fee, form, identification, immigrant document, professional license, telephone or vehicle violation, false information, or a failure to register after another state announced the person's arrival. The State Police answers at 517-241-1806, an error in a record goes through the Submit a Tip button on the record or to the police agency over the address, and a suspected violation goes to the police where the registrant actually lives; the agencies for every address are on the Michigan county pages.
- Search: the Public Sex Offender Registry by name, registration or MDOC number, address, city, county or ZIP Code, with a map radius of a quarter mile to five miles and lists of all published, incarcerated and non-compliant registrants.
- Tiers: Tier I registers for 15 years, Tier II for 25 years and Tier III for life under MCL 28.725, not counting time in prison or civil commitment; the tier itself is never shown on the public site.
- Reporting: in person once a year in the birth month, twice a year or four times a year by conviction, and within three business days of any change of home, job, name or school; $50 at registration and $50 a year up to $550.
- Alerts: email when a registrant moves, enrolls or takes a job within .25, .5, 1, 2 or 5 miles of an address, and a Track Offender option on any record.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Michigan's own systems: the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry home page, the Michigan State Police Sex Offender Registry page and its questions and answers, the Public Sex Offender Registry search page, the registry's email alert registration page, the Michigan State Police alerts page, Michigan Compiled Laws section 28.725 on reporting duties and the tier periods, Michigan Compiled Laws section 28.728 on the law enforcement database and the public website, the Michigan State Police criminal history records page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What the public site shows, by statute
Section 28.728 separates two databases. The law enforcement database holds everything: every name and alias, Social Security numbers used, dates of birth claimed, the residence or the township or city where a homeless registrant spends most time, temporary lodging used for more than seven days with its dates, every employer and work location, every school, every telephone number, every email address and internet identifier for anyone registered after July 1, 2011, vehicle plates, the driver license or state identification number, a digital copy of the passport and immigration papers, occupational licenses, a summary of every listed offense conviction with the original charge where a plea was to a lesser one, the physical description, photograph, fingerprints and palm prints, a copy of the Michigan license or identification card, the text of the offense statute, any outstanding warrant, the tier and registration status, a DNA indicator, the complete criminal history, the corrections number and supervision status and the FBI number.
The public website must show the legal name and aliases, the date of birth, the residence address or the village, city or township used instead of one, the address of each employer and work location, the address of any school attended or accepted at, the plate and description of any vehicle owned or operated, a summary of the listed offense convictions, the physical description, the photograph, with an arrest or corrections photograph standing in until the registration photograph exists, the text of the offense and the registration status.
It may never show the victim's identity, the Social Security number, an arrest that ended without conviction, a travel or immigration document number, the tier classification or the driver license or identification number.
The site leaves out a person registered only for a juvenile disposition that was not designated for trial as an adult, a person registered only for a juvenile adjudication in another state or country, and a person registered for a single Tier I offense, unless that offense was possessing child sexually abusive material, aggravated indecent exposure, unlawful imprisonment or capturing an image of an unclothed person with a minor victim, or a similar crime elsewhere.
The compilation is indexed by village, city, township, county, ZIP Code and geography, searchable by the name and campus location of a college, updated at the same moment as the law enforcement database for new registrations, deletions and address changes, and purged within seven days once the State Police finds that a registration period has ended, including a period shortened by the 2011 amendments.
Why someone is missing from the Michigan site
The State Police lists the reasons a known offender does not appear: the person is an adjudicated juvenile, is deceased, is not a Michigan resident, was convicted of something that is not a listed offense, was convicted before October 1, 1995 and was out of the justice system for that offense by then, was removed by a judge's order, had the conviction set aside, took part in the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act program, finished the registration period, or is registered for a single offense of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct or assault with intent to commit second degree criminal sexual conduct with an adult victim, of sexual delinquency, of a particular indecent exposure provision, of engaging the services of prostitution, or of any state law or local ordinance that by its nature is a sexual offense against a person under 18.
An expungement or set aside order presented to the State Police or the registering authority ends the registration and removes the person from both databases.
Who registers, and the listed offenses
The act covers anyone domiciled, temporarily residing, working or studying in Michigan who was convicted of a listed offense after October 1, 1995, anyone convicted earlier who on that date was still on probation or parole, in jail, in prison or under juvenile or human services jurisdiction for the offense, anyone whose supervision for such an offense was transferred into Michigan, anyone another state requires to register as a sex or child offender or predator, and since March 24, 2021 anyone with an earlier listed offense that never required registration who is convicted of any other felony; offenses added to the list on September 1, 1999 count only for convictions or supervision on or after that date.
The listed offenses under MCL 28.722 run from first through fourth degree criminal sexual conduct and assault with intent to commit it, child sexually abusive activity or material whether possessed, produced, financed or distributed, accosting, enticing or soliciting a child for immoral purposes, prohibited internet communication with a minor, human trafficking of a minor, kidnapping or leading away a child with a sexual component, unlawful imprisonment of a minor with a sexual component, aggravated indecent exposure to a minor, capturing or distributing an image of an unclothed minor, sodomy or gross indecency involving a minor, soliciting a minor for prostitution, pandering, engaging the services of prostitution, any offense committed by a sexually delinquent person, to anything substantially similar under federal, state, tribal, military or foreign law.
Reporting months, three business days and the fees
Registrants report in person to a local police department, a sheriff's office or a State Police post to verify the address once a year in the birth month, twice a year or four times a year according to the conviction. The semiannual months are the birth month and the month six months later, so a January or July birth reports in January and July; the quarterly months are the birth month and every third month after it, so a February, May, August or November birth reports in February, May, August and November.
Under section 28.725 a resident reports in person within three business days of changing or leaving a residence, changing or losing a job, enrolling in or leaving a college, or changing a name, and within three business days, in person or by mail or drop off, of any change in vehicles, email addresses, internet identifiers or telephone numbers or of an intention to stay somewhere other than home for more than seven days. A move to another state is reported in person at least three business days before it, a move to or a stay of more than seven days in another country at least 21 days before, with the new address where known, and the State Police passes the news to the other jurisdiction; after a move out of state the person leaves the public site and stops being an active registrant unless returning.
At the next verification each registrant supplies copies of any passport and immigration documents and any occupational license, and every registrant must hold a valid Michigan driver license or personal identification card, the homeless excepted, and sign every required form. The fee is $50 at the first registration and $50 each year after, until $550 has been paid.
Fifteen years, twenty five years or life
Section 28.725 fixes the periods: 15 years for a Tier I offender, 25 years for Tier II and life for Tier III, none of it counting time in prison for a crime or in civil commitment. For a person whose earlier listed offense never required registration but who was convicted of another felony on or after July 1, 2011, the years spent free and uncommitted since the listed offense count toward the period, and if they already equal it no registration is owed.
The corrections department tells the State Police the proposed address before releasing a registrant on parole or at the end of a sentence, and a sheriff does the same before a jail release; a transfer to a community residential program or a level one facility is reported to the local police within seven days.
Alerts, tracking and the criminal history behind a record
Email alerts begin with the Email Alerts link in the upper right of the public site, a radius of .25, .5, 1, 2 or 5 miles, a home address and an email address, and a confirmation arrives within 24 hours; the same account may hold several addresses, a home, a school and a workplace, and the alert fires when a registrant moves, enrolls or takes a job inside the radius. The Track Offender button on any record sends an email whenever that person moves, changes employment or enrolls, Un-register removes an address from every alert the State Police sends, and the whole list of registrants cannot be downloaded, only printed page by page.
The registry never releases victim information. For the court file behind an offense, the court of conviction in the county where the crime occurred supplies a copy, and when the county is unknown the Internet Criminal History Access Tool, ICHAT, returns the criminal history record for a name and date of birth for a fee and names the county, though a sealed or expunged record or an out of state conviction will not show. Adjudicated juveniles never appear on the public site, and registrants from other states are reached through the national public website the Department of Justice runs.
Reading a Michigan result
A public record gives the offense as the statute reads today, the status, any compliance violation and the last verified address, employer, school and vehicles, never the tier or the victim; a missing person may be a juvenile, a single Tier I conviction, a set aside or a finished period, and the police agency over the registrant's address holds the file that settles it.
Questions about the Michigan sex offender registry
Related Michigan records
This site also covers Michigan's other records: the Michigan arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, the Michigan inmate search guide for the Offender Tracking Information System, the Michigan background check guide for ICHAT, and the Michigan county pages for every sheriff and police department.