The Mississippi Department of Public Safety registry website opens with the three searches it offers once the disclaimer is acknowledged, by a specific sex offender's name, by a listing of registrants within a chosen distance of an address, or by a listing within a Mississippi ZIP code, and with the registry's own contacts, the hotline at 601-987-1540 and MSOR@dps.ms.gov, the mailing address at Post Office Box 958, Jackson, MS 39205 and the office at 3891 Highway 468 West, Pearl, MS 39208. Its disclaimer explains that the Mississippi Sex Offenders Registration Law, enacted as federal legislation mandated, has the department keep a registry of people living in the state who were convicted of certain sexual offenses or attempts, that a person merely arrested or charged does not register unless the charge ends in a conviction, that the department has assessed no one's risk of reoffending and has decided that no listed person is currently dangerous, that the records come from criminal justice agencies and from the offenders themselves and are not independently verified, so the registry may contain errors, that only a fingerprint comparison establishes identity, and that the full law sits at section 45-33-21 and following of the Mississippi Code. Misusing the information is a misdemeanor punishable by up to $1,000 and six months in the county jail, selling or exchanging it for profit is prohibited, and knowingly giving the police false information about a sex offender carries up to $5,000 and five years in the state penitentiary.
What makes Mississippi different is where the registrant goes. Since July 1, 2005 registration has been a two part process, the registry's questions page explains: the offender first reports to a registering agency, the sheriff, the Department of Corrections or another responsible agency, to complete the forms, be photographed and fingerprinted and give a biological sample, and then personally appears at any Department of Public Safety driver license station with a copy of the completed Convicted Sex Offender Registration Form and an $11 registration fee, where a sex offender photograph card is issued, the first 90 day re-registration date is set and the offender is told of the continuing duty to verify everything every 90 days. The home page adds the practical rules the stations apply: a valid registration receipt from the local sheriff's office is required for every registration other than an active re-registration, covering non compliant, new, temporary out of state and newly released registrants, a sheriff's registration form is valid for three business days, there is no grace period between the day an offender becomes non compliant and the day the person must appear, a registrant may re-register up to ten days early, an electronic monitoring form is good for one year and must be renewed at registration once expired, the $11 fee is due at every registration while fines are owed only to lift a license suspension, and the Driver Service Bureau recommends booking an appointment online. The sheriff who takes the first step in each county is on the Mississippi county pages.
- Search: the Department of Public Safety registry by name, by distance from an address or by ZIP code, after acknowledging the disclaimer; the hotline is 601-987-1540.
- Two steps: forms, photograph, fingerprints and a biological sample with the sheriff, the Department of Corrections or another responsible agency, then an in person visit to any driver license station with the form and $11 for the sex offender photograph card.
- Every 90 days: a return to a driver license station to be photographed, verify the address, telephone, employer and school and pay $11 for a new card bearing the next date, with no reminder from the department.
- Distance rule: no residence within 3,000 feet of a public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school or child care facility since July 1, 2006, or of a residential child caring agency, children's group care home, playground, ball park or recreational facility used by minors since July 1, 2008.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Mississippi's own systems: the Mississippi Department of Public Safety sex offender registry website, the registry's frequently asked questions, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Who registers, and the offenses
The questions page lists who registers under section 45-33-25: anyone convicted of a sex offense or an attempt, acquitted of one by reason of insanity, or adjudicated delinquent for one that is a registrable offense under section 45-33-23(g), including juveniles convicted as adults and juveniles adjudicated in youth court for rape, sexual battery or a conspiracy, accessory or attempt involving force against the victim, with offenders under 14 exempt; temporary residents who abide, lodge or reside in Mississippi for seven or more consecutive days somewhere other than a permanent residence; nonresidents who work or practice a vocation in the state for any period, full or part time; students, employees, volunteers, tradesmen and professionals enrolled in any kind of school in the state; and military personnel on assignment.
The registrable offenses are kidnapping when the victim was under 18, statutory rape, rape and assault with intent to ravish, sexual battery, enticing a child for concealment, prostitution or marriage, touching a child or a mentally defective, incapacitated or physically helpless person for lustful purposes, disseminating sexually oriented material to children and computer luring of a minor, exploitation of a child, carnal knowledge of a stepchild, adopted child or a cohabiting partner's child, unnatural intercourse, adultery or fornication between a teacher and a pupil, sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult, procuring the sexual servitude of a minor, filming another person without permission where privacy was expected, attempts at any of them, any offense elsewhere that would be one of these in Mississippi or that requires registration where it was committed, and any conspiracy, accessory or attempt conviction for a listed offense.
What the registrant gives
Registration under section 45-33-25(2) collects the name and any legally changed former name, the street address of every current permanent and temporary residence in or out of state, the date, place and address of employment, the crime, the date and place of conviction, adjudication or insanity acquittal, aliases, the Social Security number, the date and place of birth, age, race, sex, height, weight, hair and eye color and other identifying features, a brief description of the offense, the driver license or state identification number, the anticipated future residence, the vehicle identification number, tag, registration and description of any motor vehicle, trailer, mobile home or manufactured home used as a residence or the hull number, serial number, name and description of any vessel or houseboat, the make, model, color and tag of the registrant's vehicle, the offense history, a photograph, fingerprints and palm prints, documentation of any treatment for a mental abnormality or personality disorder, a biological sample, the name of any school, trade institution or college where the registrant works, carries on a vocation or studies and the status there, a copy of the conviction or sentencing order, the parole, probation or supervised release status and any outstanding warrants, every online identity, screen name or username the registrant uses, registers or creates, and anything else the department deems necessary.
Deadlines: three business days, ten days before a move
Section 45-33-27 sets the clock by situation. An offender convicted, adjudicated or acquitted by reason of insanity registers within three business days of the judgment unless immediately confined or committed; a person released from prison or placed on parole or supervised release registers before release and appears at a driver license station within three days of release; a person placed on probation registers with the court when the order is entered and appears at a station within three days; a person not incarcerated, detained or committed when the duty attaches registers with the sheriff of the county of residence within three business days and appears at a station within three days; and a person moving or returning to Mississippi notifies the department ten days before first residing in a county, registers with the sheriff within three business days and appears at a station within ten days of arrival.
Anyone whose conviction, adjudication or acquittal dates from before July 1, 1995, and who is not confined or committed, registers with the sheriff of the county, and every registering agency sends what it collects to the department within ten days. Changes follow their own calendar under section 45-33-29: a change of address is reported by personally appearing at a driver license station no less than ten days before first residing at the new address, a change in enrollment, employment or vocation at any school or college within three business days, and a change of employment or name within three business days.
Two written notices sit outside the stations: under section 45-33-32 a convicted sex offender who volunteers for an organization whose volunteers have direct, private or unsupervised contact with minors tells the organization in writing before volunteering, and under the 2006 Senate Bill 2527 an offender who takes a job or a personal services contract bringing close, regular contact with children tells the employer or contracting party in writing, whatever the date of conviction.
International travel requires an International Travel Form filed with the registry at least 21 days before departure, by mail to the Pearl office, by email or by fax to 601-933-2695, with the passport details, the itinerary and the address abroad.
Every 90 days, $11, no reminders
Section 45-33-31 sends every registrant back to any driver license station in the state every 90 days to re-register: the offender is photographed, verifies the residence street address and telephone number, the name, address and telephone number of the employer and the status at any school, pays an $11 fee and receives a new sex offender card that states the next 90 day date. The questions page is blunt about whose job it is to remember: the offender is responsible for maintaining the re-registration, and the department does not send out any type of reminder or other notification about the 90 day requirement.
The home page adds that re-registration may be done up to ten days early and that an expired electronic monitoring form must be replaced at the visit.
The 3,000 foot rule
Since July 1, 2006 a convicted sex offender required to register in Mississippi may not reside within 3,000 feet of the real property of a public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school or a child care facility, and since July 1, 2008 the ban extends to a residential child caring agency, a children's group care home and any playground, ball park or other recreational facility used by people under 18, all under section 45-33-25(4).
Each ban has the same exceptions: a residence established before the rule's date, or a school or facility that arrived after the offender moved in; a sentence being served in a jail, prison, juvenile facility or other correctional institution inside the zone; a commitment order under Title 41 placing the offender in a facility inside the zone; and a minor or a ward under a guardianship living there.
Penalties, the license suspension and the out of state note
Failing to personally appear at a driver license station or to provide any registration or other information, initial registration, re-registration, change of address and the notice to a volunteer organization included, forging information or submitting it under false pretenses is a felony under section 45-33-33, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000, up to five years in the state penitentiary, or both, and the offender's driver license or driving privilege is suspended for a failure to report, register or re-register, which is why the home page notes that fines matter only when a license must be restored.
A violation may be prosecuted in the county where it happened, the county of the last registered address, the county of the conviction that requires registration or the county where the person was designated a sex offender. A registrant who moves to another state and registers there is not removed: under section 45-33-47(2)(h) the department keeps listing the name and registration information of every registrant who no longer lives, works or attends school in Mississippi, with a note that the person moved out of state.
Reading a Mississippi result
A listing on the department's site means a registrant whose card is renewed at a driver license station every 90 days, or one who has fallen out of compliance and faces the felony, or one who left the state and stays listed with the out of state note; the department ranks nobody by risk, so the entry says nothing about danger, and a name missing from the site may be a person never convicted or a juvenile under 14. The sheriff holds the first registration, the driver license station holds the card history, and the registry office in Pearl corrects the record.
Questions about the Mississippi sex offender registry
Related Mississippi records
The rest of Mississippi's public records on this site: the Mississippi arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, the Mississippi inmate search guide for the Department of Corrections and the county jails, the Mississippi background check guide for the state criminal history checks, and the Mississippi county pages for every sheriff and police department.