The Digital Commodification of Sex Offense Registry Data

• In Event: Public Policy and Collateral Consequences

Abstract

Every state is required to house publicly available information on people convicted of sex-related offenses. The function of these registries has changed dramatically in the two decades since the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003) that sex offender registration is a civil proceeding and is, therefore, not punitive. As a result, internet users can now browse through registrants rather than having to search for information about a particular individual. Registry information is regularly scraped, copied, aggregated, and reposted to private websites often to draw web traffic as clickbait. This “pushing” of registrant information to internet users who are not seeking it constitutes a shift in the function of registries and a form of digital punishment beyond the scope of registry laws. This study utilizes a unique database of sex offense registries in all 50 states to analyze the kinds of personal information about registrants, search/browsing functions, address mapping capabilities, and bulk download options available on these sites. Preliminary findings suggest that online registry information has fundamentally changed the nature and scope of registries by fueling the personal data economy, while also expanding digital community surveillance as a component of contemporary punishment.

Authors

• Chloé Sudduth, Rutgers University

• Sarah E. Lageson, Rutgers University, Newark