§20945 — Title 34 Navy | U.S. Code

§20945 Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking

Title 34 › Subtitle Subtitle II— Protection of Children and Other Persons › Chapter 209— CHILD PROTECTION AND SAFETY › Subchapter I— SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION AND NOTIFICATION › Part B— Improving Federal Criminal Law Enforcement To Ensure Sex Offender Compliance With Registration and Notification Requirements and Protection of Children From Violent Predators › § 20945

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Creates an office inside the Department of Justice called the SMART Office to handle sex offender registration, monitoring, and related matters. The office runs the registration and notification rules in this chapter, manages related grant programs (and other grants the Attorney General directs), helps states, local and tribal governments and other groups with technical support to protect children and the public from sexual abuse or exploitation, and does other tasks the Attorney General assigns. A Director, picked by the President, leads the office, reports to the Attorney General through the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, and has final say over all grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts the office gives out. The Director cannot hold another job or act for any group the office hires.

Title 34, §20945

Navy — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)There is established within the Department of Justice, under the general authority of the Attorney General, an Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “SMART Office”).

(b)The SMART Office shall be headed by a Director who shall be appointed by the President. The Director shall report to the Attorney General through the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs and shall have final authority for all grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts awarded by the SMART Office. The Director shall not engage in any employment other than that of serving as the Director, nor shall the Director hold any office in, or act in any capacity for, any organization, agency, or institution with which the Office makes any contract or other arrangement.

(c)The SMART Office is authorized to—

(1)administer the standards for the sex offender registration and notification program set forth in this chapter;

(2)administer grant programs relating to sex offender registration and notification authorized by this chapter and other grant programs authorized by this chapter as directed by the Attorney General;

(3)cooperate with and provide technical assistance to States, units of local government, tribal governments, and other public and private entities involved in activities related to sex offender registration or notification or to other measures for the protection of children or other members of the public from sexual abuse or exploitation; and

(4)perform such other functions as the Attorney General may delegate.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (c)(1), (2), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 109–248, July 27, 2006, 120 Stat. 587, known as the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

of 2006 Act note set out under section 10101 of this title and Tables. Codification Section was formerly classified to section 16945 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.