The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, DCJS, maintains the Sex Offender Registry under the Sex Offender Registration Act, SORA, and is required by law to keep an online directory of individuals a judge has found to pose a Level 2 or Level 3 risk of re-offense. The state's search service opens with a last name, a county or a ZIP Code, and the DCJS registry overview explains that what the public may see depends on the level: Level 1, low risk, brings limited information with the residence shown only by ZIP Code, while Level 2, moderate risk, and Level 3, high risk, bring the address; a directory entry may include names and aliases, photographs, home and work addresses, the crime of conviction, vehicle information and the conditions of parole or probation. The division works to keep the registry accurate but every entry is reported by other agencies, so it guarantees nothing, and corrections go to the registry by email or by mail to 80 South Swan Street, Albany, NY 12210; a registrant's own questions go by mail with the full name, address and date of birth.
Information about Level 1 registrants, about people whose level a judge has not yet set, and about some Level 2 and 3 registrants kept out of the directory by legal action comes only through the toll free line, 1-800-262-3257, which answers at any hour; the caller must give a name and one identifier, an exact address, a date of birth, a driver license or non driver ID number or a Social Security number, to learn whether the person is a registered sex offender in New York. Anyone who uses registry information to harass or commit a crime against a person faces prosecution. The law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the registrant's residence, which may notify the community, is found through the New York county pages.
- Search: the online directory by last name, county or ZIP Code for Level 2 and 3 registrants; Level 1 and undetermined registrants only by phone at 1-800-262-3257 with a name and one identifier.
- Levels and terms: a judge sets Level 1 low, Level 2 moderate or Level 3 high after a court hearing, and may designate a sexual predator, sexually violent offender or predicate sex offender; a Level 1 registrant without a designation registers for 20 years and every Level 2, Level 3 or designated registrant for life under Correction Law section 168-h.
- Verification: an annual verification form mailed by the division and returned within ten days, a new photograph every year for Level 3 and every three years for Levels 1 and 2, and an in person address check with the local police every 90 days for Level 3 registrants and sexual predators.
- Who registers: anyone on parole, probation or incarcerated for a sex offense on January 21, 1996, anyone convicted or sentenced since, and anyone moving in from another state or country with a registrable conviction, who registers within 10 days; every change of address or internet identifier is reported within 10 days, with a $10 fee on a change of address or college status.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New York's own systems: the New York State search service for the Sex Offender Registry, the Division of Criminal Justice Services Sex Offender Registry overview, the NY-Alert sign up page, the NY-Alert home page, Correction Law section 168-b on the duties of the division and the registry information, Correction Law section 168-f on the duty to register and to verify, Correction Law section 168-h on the duration of registration and verification, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The three levels and the designations
State law registers a person on release to the community, and the risk level decides what the public may learn and how: Level 1 for a low risk of repeat offense, Level 2 for a moderate risk, and Level 3 for a high risk where a threat to public safety exists, each determined by a judge after a court hearing. The judge also decides whether the person is a sexual predator, a sexually violent offender or a predicate sex offender, and the level and designation together determine the duration of registration.
The directory's glossary explains the entries: incarcerated means held in a local jail or state prison, ICE custody means held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and in custody means a federal prison in New York; the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction is the one where the registrant lives, which may notify the community; previous convictions requiring registration are listed after the current one; and the supervising agency, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision or a county probation department, appears with any special conditions of supervision the division was told of, which that agency enforces.
The map pins only the first address line, drops to the center of the ZIP Code for a post office box or a non standard first line such as a detention center, maps rural routes that follow postal form, and shows no map for someone listed as undomiciled.
Twenty years or life, and the verification by level
Section 168-h of the Correction Law ties the term to the level and the designation: a registrant who has not been designated a sexual predator, sexually violent offender or predicate sex offender and is classified a Level 1 risk, or has not yet received a level, registers and verifies annually for 20 years from the initial registration date, and a registrant who on or after March 11, 2002 was given any of those designations or classified at Level 2 or Level 3 registers and verifies annually for life, with one door left open, since a Level 2 registrant without a designation may be relieved of the duty as section 168-o provides.
A Level 3 registrant or a sexual predator also personally verifies the address with the local law enforcement agency every 90 calendar days, counted from release or the start of parole, post-release supervision or probation, a duty suspended while the person is confined and resumed on the day of release, and the agency may take a new photograph at any of those visits when the appearance has changed. Under section 168-f the division mails a nonforwardable verification form to the last reported address on each anniversary of the initial registration, which the registrant signs, stating that the residence is unchanged and, at Level 2 or 3, that the employment is unchanged, and mails back within ten calendar days, a missed form being a violation unless the registrant proves the address never changed; the photograph is renewed in person at the local police within 20 days of the first anniversary and every year after that for a Level 3 registrant, and within 20 days of the third anniversary and every three years after for a Level 1 or Level 2 registrant, on a notice the division mails 30 to 60 days ahead under section 168-b, with a confined registrant photographed by the warden or sheriff and a hospitalized one given 90 days after release.
A registrant whose conviction was reversed on appeal or who was pardoned by the governor owes no registration at all.
Registering, and the ten day rules
Anyone who was on parole or probation or incarcerated for a sex offense on January 21, 1996 registers with the division, as does anyone convicted of a sex offense on or after that date or sentenced to probation, jail or prison after it, on returning to the community; a person who moves to New York after a conviction in another state, federal court, the military or another country registers if the Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders finds the offense one that requires registration, and must do so no later than 10 days after moving.
Section 168-f sets the first registration at least ten calendar days before discharge, parole, release to post-release supervision or release from any state or local correctional facility, hospital or institution, or at sentencing for a registrant released on probation or discharged on a fine, a conditional discharge or an unconditional discharge, on the division's form, and then gives the registrant ten calendar days to register any change of address, any internet account with an access provider, any internet identifier used, or any change in enrollment, attendance, employment or residence at a college, each change of address or college status, though not a change of internet identifier alone, carrying a $10 fee that the division deposits in the general fund without refusing a change for nonpayment; a nonresident worker or student registers the home address and the address of the job or school within ten calendar days of starting and reports any change within ten days, and the division tells the local agency where the job or school sits.
The registry file itself, under section 168-b, holds the name and every alias, the date of birth, sex, race, height, weight and eye color, the driver's license number, the home address or expected domicile, the internet accounts and identifiers, a photograph and fingerprints, a description of the offense with the conviction date and the sentence including the type and length of supervision, any college attended or employing the person and whether the person lives in its housing, the employment address of a Level 2 or Level 3 registrant, and whatever else the division finds pertinent.
Registrants with questions about their own registration write to the registry, since the division answers them only by mail.
NY-Alert: a notice when a registrant moves
Beyond the directory, the division sends sex offender relocation notices through the state's NY-Alert system, so that a New Yorker learns by email, text, fax or telephone whenever a Level 2 or 3 registrant moves to or from a community of interest, a home, a workplace or a child's school. A subscriber registers up to three locations, each by county or municipality, by ZIP Code or by a specific address, in any combination. Signing up runs through a NY.gov ID: an existing account adds NY-Alert, accepts the terms, connects to the application and picks the alert types and contact preferences, and a new account starts with a name and email, a MY NYID username, a verification email, three security questions and a password; the system is free, covers every area of the state, and promises that the contact information is used for notifications only, with support on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Employer, camp and volunteer checks
An employer, camp operator or volunteer organization checks names in two ways. For fewer than 20 names, a request by fax to (518) 485-5805, by mail to the registry at 80 South Swan Street, Albany, New York 12210 or by email carries each person's first and last name with a birth date, Social Security number, driver license number or complete address, plus the organization's name, address, telephone and fax numbers and a contact person; by phone, the same identifiers go to 800-262-3257 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., where registry staff first take the caller's name, address and telephone.
For 20 or more names the request goes only by email with an Excel spreadsheet whose first row reads LastName, FirstName and either Birth_Date as MM/DD/YYYY or SSN as nine digits, with 800 # Search in the subject line and the organization's details in the message.
Who else gets the registry
Section 168-b lets the division share the registry with any regional or national registry of sex offenders and requires it to accept their files, and names the other recipients: the Department of Health and the Department of Financial Services, so that they can identify people barred by law from Medicaid, public or insured coverage of drugs, procedures or supplies for erectile dysfunction, and plans providing that coverage, which may receive only the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of the ineligible and may pass them only to the staff who approve or deny claims; the courts, so that a judge deciding custody or visitation under the Domestic Relations Law, the Family Court Act or an adult guardianship can check the registry; children's camp operators, who may ask for registry information about a prospective employee; authorized internet entities, which may obtain registrants' internet identifiers, for a fee the division may set, to prescreen or remove sex offenders from their services or to warn law enforcement, and may never publish or pass the identifiers on; and municipal housing authorities, which receive the information on Level 2 and Level 3 registrants.
Nothing else in the registry may be released except in furtherance of the article, officials and businesses acting reasonably and in good faith on registry information are immune from liability, and the division runs the toll free telephone line under section 168-p, the subdirectory under section 168-q and a public awareness campaign on the law itself.
Reading a New York result
A directory entry means a judge has set Level 2 or 3, with the address, photograph, crime and any supervision conditions the division was told of, and a term that runs for life; no entry can mean Level 1, with its 20 year term, a level not yet set, a legal action that keeps the person off the directory, or no registration at all, and only the 800 number, with a name and an identifier, settles which. The annual verification form and the yearly or three yearly photograph keep the record current, a Level 3 registrant is also seen by the local police every 90 days, NY-Alert follows the next move, and the registry's own mailbox at 80 South Swan Street takes the corrections.
Questions about the New York sex offender registry
Related New York records
The registry is one of the New York records this site covers: the New York arrest records guide explains what a booking makes public, the inmate search guide covers the DOCCS incarcerated lookup, the background check guide covers the Office of Court Administration record search, and the New York county pages list each sheriff and police department.