---
kind: "section"
citation: "34 U.S.C. § 20921"
title: "34"
title_heading: "Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
number: "20921"
heading: "National Sex Offender Registry"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/34/20921"
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"
---

# §20921. National Sex Offender Registry

- (a) **Internet—** The Attorney General shall maintain a national database at the Federal Bureau of Investigation for each [sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=1) and any other person required to register in a [jurisdiction](/usc/34/20911.md?p=10)’s [sex offender registry](/usc/34/20911.md?p=9). The database shall be known as the [National Sex Offender Registry](/usc/34/21502.md?p=8).
- (b) **Electronic forwarding—** The Attorney General shall ensure (through the [National Sex Offender Registry](/usc/34/21502.md?p=8) or otherwise) that updated information about a [sex offender](/usc/34/20911.md?p=1) is immediately transmitted by electronic forwarding to all relevant [jurisdictions](/usc/34/20911.md?p=10).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–248, title I, § 119, July 27, 2006, 120 Stat. 596.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 16919 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.