Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Department of Justice to help American Samoa with sex offender registry

Posted at 23:34 on 16 September, 2012 UTC

An official with the US Department of Justice is in American Samoa to work with the territorial government to improve the territory’s sex offender registry.

The registry lists individuals who are convicted of sex crimes as prescribed under the law, and includes at minimum the offender’s photo, fingerprints, criminal history, and his address.

The senior policy advisory for the department’s Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking, Lori McPherson, says federal standards require that the registry is publicly available

However she’s heard that American Samoans do not have any kind of access to the current registry.

“So since there is a broadbase interest in it and interest in improving the registry, my impression is that there’s a good groundswell of momentum to try and make those changes.”

Lori McPherson.