42 U.S.C. § 16917
Section 16917 · Duty to notify sex offenders of registration requirements and to register
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 31 court decisions — leading case United States v. Gould (2009)
Most recently applied in United States v. Ross (February 2017)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
An appropriate official shall, shortly before release of the sex offender from custody, or, if the sex offender is not in custody, immediately after the sentencing of the sex offender, for the offense giving rise to the duty to register—
(1) inform the sex offender of the duties of a sex offender under this subchapter and explain those duties;
(2) require the sex offender to read and sign a form stating that the duty to register has been explained and that the sex offender understands the registration requirement; and
(3) ensure that the sex offender is registered.
The Attorney General shall prescribe rules for the notification of sex offenders who cannot be registered in accordance with subsection (a).
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
This subchapter, referred to in subsec. (a)(1), was in the original “this title”, meaning title I of Pub. L. 109–248, July 27, 2006, 120 Stat. 590, known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. For complete classification of title I to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 16901 of this title and Tables.