U. S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Office of the Assistant Attorney General

Washington, D.C. 20531

MEMORANDUM TO:	Glenn A. Fine Inspector General United States Department of Justice
THROUGH:	Michael D. Gulledge Acting Assistant Inspector General for Evaluation and Inspections Office of the Inspector General United States Department of Justice
FROM:	Beth McGarry (Signature) for Jeffrey L. Sedgwick Assistant Attorney General
SUBJECT:	Office of Justice Programs' Response to the Office of the Inspector General Report, Review of the Implementation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, Title I of the Adam Walsh Safety and Protection Act of2006, Report Number A-2008-003

This memorandum provides a response to the Office of the Inspector General's (OIG's) draft audit report entitled, Review of the Implementation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, Title I of the Adam Walsh Safety and Protection Act of 2003. In general, the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) agrees with the content of the draft report as it relates the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. However, OJP would like to make the following clarifications regarding statements in the OIG draft report.

1. Page 30 (Footnote 41): The draft report states that "The Executive Director for the National Council on American Indians said the SMART Office's Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act guidelines provide no indication of the process that will be used to assess tribal compliance." Please note, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act guidelines are clear that once a Tribe files a resolution to become a registration jurisdiction, the Tribe is under the same obligation as a state. Tribal compliance will be based on the same substantial compliance standard as set out in the final guidelines.
   
   
2. Page 59 (Third paragraph): The report states that "For sex offender registries to be helpful tools, it is important that they provide the information the public needs to assess the threat posed to them by different sex offenders. Victim information could be useful for this purpose because sex offenders often have victim preferences." The Office of Justice Programs agrees that offenders have preferences. However, it is important to note that an offender with a preference may go outside of that preference for any number of reasons. For example, a sex offender that has a preference for a pre-pubescent boy may molest a pre-pubescent girl if she has similar qualities to a boy.
   
   

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the draft report. If you have any questions regarding this response, please contact LeToya Johnson, Deputy Director, Office of Audit, Assessment, and Management -Audit and Review Division, on (202) 514-0692.

cc:

Beth McGarry Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Operations and Management Laura L. Rogers Director Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking LeToya A. Johnson Deputy Director, Audit and Review Division Office of Audit, Assessment, and Management Richard A. Theis Assistant Director, Audit Liaison Group Justice Management Division