How to Find Sex Offenders in my Area

You can track sex offenders in your neighborhood with a few clicks of the mouse.

It is common to be uneasy about your loved ones' safety. Family Watchdog, the National Sex Offender Registry, is a tool where you can find out about convicted sex offenders in your neighborhood, city or state.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Internet access

Instructions

1. Begin by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page. This will take you to a free site known as Family Watchdog; in place since August 2005, it records addresses of registered sex offenders in the United States.

2. Type your street address, city, state and ZIP code into the appropriate boxes on the home page of Family Watchdog.

3. A map of your neighborhood and city will pop up. This map shows you the home and work addresses of all people who have been convicted of offenses against children, sexual battery, rape or another sexual offenses.

4. The map is color coded to tell you which person has been convicted of which offense. You can zoom in closer on your neighborhood by using the directional buttons on the left side of the screen. It also includes a list, by state, of the number of registered offenders.

Tips & Warnings

• Harassing anyone on the offender list is a misdemeanor, Family Watchdog says. The website "is to allow you to identify sexual predators that you may come in contact with, not as a tool to hunt them down and run them out."

References

• Family Watchdog: Offender Counts
• Family Watchdog: The National Sex Offender Registry