How to Find Registered Sex Offenders in Florida

By law, convicted sex offenders and sexual predators must register with law enforcement agencies in the state where they reside. Sex offender laws allow the publication of the names, locations, email address/screen name and other pertinent information concerning the offender to be accessible by the public. The general reason is that the public interest of safety outweighs any privacy concerns by the convicted sex offender. Florida records, which can be found online, can be accessed easily and used when conducting criminal background checks or for other purposes. The state law enforcement agency in Florida is the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Among other duties, this agency is in charge of maintaining the sex offender registry.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Access to a computer with internet capabilities.

1. Access the sex offender registry at http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/Search.jsp.

2. Search by offender using the name, city or county. Narrow your search with some other identifiers as well, such as offender type and status. If you don't have a name, you can put in the city or county and the registry will bring up a list of all sex offenders listed in the area you have identified.

3. Search by neighborhood by entering an address and search for sex offenders who are listed within a certain radius around that address.

4. Search by email/IM name by entering an email address or screen name.

Tips & Warnings

• The FDLE website also has a tab where you can subscribe to an email service that alerts you when a registered sex offender or sexual predator moves within a specified radius of the address you list. It can also alert you when a particular predator changes a registered address.

References

• Florida Department of Law Enforcement: Florida Sexual Offenders and Predators