---
type: "LegalText"
title: "34 U.S.C. § 20921"
description: "National Sex Offender Registry"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 34
title_name: "CRIME CONTROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT"
chapter_number: "209"
chapter_name: "CHILD PROTECTION AND SAFETY"
section: "20921"
citation: "34 U.S.C. § 20921"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc34@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t34/s20921"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-34/usc34.xml"
source_hash: "c96b09c6301ddc3f62b520dd743532edba79fc5deb4373d8d22875d03f611d0e"
raw_snapshot_hash: "7528207b20373f75fea96478ab5313727f47852e5364ee8c5ea18909f66a9da3"
text_hash: "d3664a08c906eb4f4c1818f57135413738bdc1085df3d7c316ee1922961423be"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 34 U.S.C. § 20921 - National Sex Offender Registry

## Text

(a) Internet The Attorney General shall maintain a national database at the Federal Bureau of Investigation for each sex offender and any other person required to register in a jurisdiction’s sex offender registry. The database shall be known as the National Sex Offender Registry.

(b) Electronic forwarding The Attorney General shall ensure (through the National Sex Offender Registry or otherwise) that updated information about a sex offender is immediately transmitted by electronic forwarding to all relevant jurisdictions.

(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.