What Is Megan’s Law in Pennsylvania? Tiers, Reporting, and Removal

Megan’s Law in Pennsylvania is the state’s sex offender registration and public notification system, run by the Pennsylvania State Police under a statute called the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), codified at 42 Pa. C.S. § 9799.1 and the sections that follow. It requires people convicted of certain sexual offenses to register their address, employment, vehicles, and other identifying information, keep that information current for 15 years, 25 years, or life depending on the offense, and accept that much of what they report will appear in a searchable public database.

The current framework took effect for offenses committed on or after December 20, 2012. People convicted under earlier versions of Pennsylvania’s registration law remain subject to registration under separate subchapters of the statute.

Who Has to Register

Registration applies to anyone with a qualifying conviction who lives in Pennsylvania, works in the state, attends school in the state, or is present in the state without a fixed address. The conviction does not have to come from a Pennsylvania court. Convictions from other states, from federal court, or from a military court-martial trigger the obligation the moment the person moves to, works in, or attends school in Pennsylvania.¹

Qualifying offenses are listed at 42 Pa. C.S. § 9799.14 and include rape, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and various child-exploitation offenses. The specific offense determines not only whether registration is required but which tier it falls into.

Juveniles generally do not register. The narrow exception is a juvenile a court has specifically classified as a Sexually Violent Delinquent Child, which carries its own quarterly reporting obligation.¹

The Three Tiers and How Long Registration Lasts

Pennsylvania sorts registrants into three tiers based on the severity of the offense. The tier controls both the length of registration and how often the person has to appear in person to verify their information.¹

Tier I: 15 years, with annual in-person verification.
Tier II: 25 years, with semiannual in-person verification.
Tier III: lifetime, with quarterly in-person verification.

Two situations override the tier schedule. Transient registrants with no fixed address must appear monthly regardless of tier. People designated as Sexually Violent Predators or Sexually Violent Delinquent Children must appear quarterly.¹

What a Registrant Has to Report and When

At each verification visit, the registrant confirms or updates their current address, employer name and location, every vehicle they own or operate (including watercraft and aircraft), and a current photograph. For offenses committed on or after December 20, 2012, they also report every email address, instant-messaging handle, and other online identifier they use.¹

Between scheduled visits, any change has to be reported in person within three business days. Moving, losing a job, starting a new job, changing a legal name, getting a new car: all of it triggers the three-day clock.¹

International travel has its own rule. A registrant planning to leave the United States must appear in person at a registration site at least 21 days before departure and provide the travel dates, destinations, and lodging.¹ Separately, federal law classifies people convicted of sex offenses against minors as “covered sex offenders” under International Megan’s Law. Their U.S. passports carry a printed identifier noting the conviction, and they cannot be issued passport cards.²

Sexually Violent Predator Status

Separately from the tier system, a court can classify a registrant as a Sexually Violent Predator after an assessment by the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board and a hearing.³ That designation carries lifetime registration with quarterly in-person reporting, and the person’s information can be shared through active community notification, such as flyers in the neighborhood, rather than only through the online database.⁴

Looking Someone Up on the Public Registry

The Pennsylvania State Police publish the registry at meganslaw.psp.pa.gov. You can search by name or by location, entering an address, city, or ZIP code with a radius. Results show the offender’s name, photograph, last known address, and the offense that triggered registration.⁴

The registry is not a complete list of everyone who has ever committed a sexual offense in Pennsylvania. It shows only people currently required to register whose information is designated for public release. Someone who finished their registration period, won removal through the courts, or whose conviction predates the registration requirement will not appear.

What Happens If Someone Doesn’t Register

Skipping a verification, moving without notifying the State Police, or otherwise failing to meet a registration obligation is a standalone felony separate from the original offense. The grade depends on the registrant’s tier and prior violations.⁵

Federal prosecutors can get involved when the registrant has traveled across state lines. Under 18 U.S.C. § 2250, knowingly failing to register or update after interstate travel carries up to 10 years in federal prison on top of whatever a state charges.⁷ The common fact pattern: someone moves out of Pennsylvania and never registers in the new state. Because they crossed a state line, the federal case is available even if the new state files its own charges.⁸

Housing, Licensing, and Local Residency Rules

The consequences of registration reach well past the periodic check-in. Federal law bars anyone subject to a lifetime sex offender registration requirement from being admitted to federally assisted housing, including public housing and Section 8. Housing authorities must run the background check, and if it shows a lifetime obligation, the application is denied. The applicant can see the information used against them and dispute its accuracy, but the ban itself is not discretionary.⁹

Under Pennsylvania’s Act 53 of 2020, a conviction for a qualifying sexual offense permanently bars the person from holding a health-care practitioner license. That covers medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, psychology, physical therapy, chiropractic care, social work, and other board-regulated health professions. The same conviction can be grounds to revoke an existing license in those fields or in massage therapy.¹⁰

Pennsylvania has no statewide law dictating where a registered offender can live. Individual municipalities can and do pass local ordinances with buffer zones around schools, parks, and daycare centers. The rules vary by town, and plenty of municipalities have no ordinance at all. Anyone on the registry who is moving within Pennsylvania should check the local code before signing a lease or closing on a home.

Getting Off the Registry

Lifetime registration is not always permanent. A Tier III registrant or someone else facing a lifetime obligation can petition a court for removal after 25 years on the registry, provided they have not been convicted of any later offense punishable by more than a year in prison during that time.¹¹

The process includes a risk assessment and a hearing where the prosecutor is notified and both sides may call witnesses. The petitioner carries the full burden and has to show by clear and convincing evidence that removal is not likely to endanger anyone. If the petition fails, the person has to wait five years to try again. A successful petition can also end verification requirements and remove the person from the public website.¹¹

A parallel path exists for people who were adjudicated delinquent as juveniles and required to register. They may petition to end the obligation after 25 years if they completed court-ordered supervision without revocation, finished a recognized sex-offender treatment program, and have no later convictions for sexually violent offenses or offenses graded second-degree misdemeanor or higher. The clear-and-convincing standard still applies. This path is not open to anyone classified as a Sexually Violent Predator or Sexually Violent Delinquent Child.

1
Pennsylvania State Police Megan’s Law. Registration Details
2
U.S. Department of State. Passports and International Megan’s Law
3
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Sexual Offenders Assessment Board FAQs
4
Pennsylvania State Police. PA Megan’s Law
5
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 Chapter 49 Section 4915.1
6
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 Chapter 11 – Authorized Disposition of Offenders
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2250 – Failure to Register
8
eCFR. 28 CFR Part 72 – Sex Offender Registration and Notification
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 13663 – Ineligibility of Dangerous Sex Offenders for Admission to Public Housing
10
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of State. Act 53 of 2020 Best Practices Guide
11
Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. Pennsylvania SORNA Substantial Implementation Review