---
kind: "section"
citation: "34 U.S.C. § 20915"
title: "34"
title_heading: "Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
number: "20915"
heading: "Duration of registration requirement"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/34/20915"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Protection of Children and Other Persons"
  - "Chapter 209 — Child Protection and Safety"
  - "Subchapter I — Sex Offender Registration and Notification"
  - "Part A — Sex Offender Registration and Notification"
---

# §20915. Duration of registration requirement

- (a) **Full registration period—** A [sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=1) shall keep the registration current for the full registration period (excluding any time the [sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=1) is in custody or civilly committed) unless the offender is allowed a reduction under [subsection (b)](#b). The full registration period is—
  - (1) 15 years, if the offender is a [tier I sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=2);
  - (2) 25 years, if the offender is a [tier II sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=3); and
  - (3) the life of the offender, if the offender is a [tier III sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=4).
- (b) **Reduced period for clean record—**
  - (1) **Clean record—** The full registration period shall be reduced as described in [paragraph (3)](#b-3) for a [sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=1) who maintains a clean record for the period described in [paragraph (2)](#b-2) by—
    - (A) not being [convicted](/usc/34/20911.md?p=8) of any offense for which imprisonment for more than 1 year may be imposed;
    - (B) not being [convicted](/usc/34/20911.md?p=8) of any [sex offense](/usc/34/20911.md?p=5-A);
    - (C) successfully completing any periods of supervised release, probation, and parole; and
    - (D) successfully completing of[^1] an appropriate [sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=1) treatment program certified by a [jurisdiction](/usc/34/20911.md?p=10) or by the Attorney General.
  - (2) **Period—** In the case of—
    - (A) a [tier I sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=2), the period during which the clean record shall be maintained is 10 years; and
    - (B) a [tier III sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=4) adjudicated delinquent for the offense which required registration in a sex registry under this subchapter, the period during which the clean record shall be maintained is 25 years.
  - (3) **Reduction—** In the case of—
    - (A) a [tier I sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=2), the reduction is 5 years;
    - (B) a [tier III sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=4) adjudicated delinquent, the reduction is from life to that period for which the clean record under [paragraph (2)](#b-2) is maintained.

## Footnotes

[^1]: So in original. The word “of” probably should not appear.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–248, title I, § 115, July 27, 2006, 120 Stat. 595.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

This subchapter, referred to in subsec. (b)(2)(B), was in the original “this title”, meaning title I of Pub. L. 109–248, July 27, 2006, 120 Stat. 590, known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. For complete classification of title I 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 16915 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.