Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act is a federal statute that was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on July 27, 2006. The Walsh Act organizes sex offenders into three tiers and mandates that Tier 3 offenders (the most serious tier) update their whereabouts every three months with lifetime registration requirements. Tier 2 offenders must update their whereabouts every six months with 25 years of registration, and Tier 1 offenders must update their whereabouts every year with 15 years of registration. Failure to register and update information is a felony under the law.

The Act also creates a national sex offender registry and instructs each state and territory to apply identical criteria for posting offender data on the Internet (i.e., offender's name, address, date of birth, place of employment, photograph, etc.). The Act was named for Adam Walsh, an American boy who was abducted from a Florida shopping mall and later found murdered.

It also contains civil commitment provisions for sexually dangerous persons.

Read more about Adam Walsh Child Protection And Safety Act:  History, Compliance, Legal Applications, Registration Requirements, Effects, Criticism, Influence On Visa Process

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