You asked which states use risk assessments to determine the sex offender profiles available to the public on their Internet sex offender registries.

In addition to giving the public access to sex offender registries at local sheriff or police departments, every state maintains a publicly accessible online sex offender registry. The agencies responsible for maintaining these online registries, the offenders profiled, and types of information they contain vary by state.

Most states include all of their registered sex offenders on their websites. Of the states that do not post all offenders, 14 use risk assessments and restrict public Internet access to those sex offenders who are determined to pose a public risk of reoffending. One-half of the states taking this risk-assessment approach post the profiles of high risk offenders only while the other half post moderate and high risk offenders. Generally, these states complete their initial risk assessments before incarcerated offenders are released into the community and at sentencing for offenders who are not sentenced to a period of incarceration. Arkansas completes the assessment after offenders register and New Jersey completes it once offenders are released into the community.

The other states use a variety of different methods to determine the offenders featured on their publicly accessible websites. For example, Colorado and Maine limit the public's Internet access to repeat, predatory, or sexually violent offenders; Montana includes Internet information on all offenders but the level of detail varies based on risk; Idaho includes all offenders on its website but maintains a separate website for sexually violent predators; and West Virginia includes only life-time registrants on its website.

Table 1 shows the risk-assessment states, the risk levels of offenders profiled on their Internet websites, and their Internet addresses.

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