Terminating Sex Offender Registration
[Penal Code section 290, effective January 1, 2021]
Since 2021, California laws regarding the duration of sexual offender registration requirements have opened the door for many registered sex offenders to terminate their registration obligations. Historically, a conviction for any registrable offense created a lifelong registration requirement. Under the revised requirements, certain categories of registrable offenses no longer carry mandatory lifetime registration, and some registrants can petition the court to terminate the registration obligation. The 2021 law provides for three tiers of sex offense registration requirements: tier one carries a ten-year minimum registration; tier two carries a twenty-year minimum registration; and tier three carries lifetime registration. This system means that some people sentenced to lifetime registration under the old law may now petition the court to terminate their registration requirement.
The termination of tier one and tier two sex offender requirements, however, is not automatic. People required to register can ask their local registering agency to provide them with a tier notification letter, and tier one and tier two registrants may petition the court for termination of their registration after the mandated minimum registration period has passed. Even if a person has met their minimum registration requirement (ten or twenty years), they must still submit a petition to terminate the requirement, and relief from registration may be opposed by the District Attorney on community safety grounds.
Attorneys at Nolan Barton Olmos & Luciano have successfully represented tier one and tier two registrants in petitions to terminate their registration requirements. We are monitoring this area of law especially closely, and we welcome clients who wish to seek termination of registration.