The Sex Offender and Crimes against Minors Registry program is statutorily provided through Chapter 9, of Title 9.1 of the Code of Virginia.
The registry, including the Public Notification Database, is based on the Virginia General Assembly's decision to facilitate access to publicly-available information about persons convicted of specified offenses. The Virginia State Police has not considered or assessed the specific risk of re-offense with regard to any individual prior to his or her inclusion within this registry, and has made no determination that any individual included in the registry is currently dangerous. The main purpose of providing this data on the internet is to make the information more easily available and accessible, not to warn citizens about any specific individual.
Use of registry information or information from the Supplement to the Registry established pursuant to § 9.1-923 for purposes not authorized by this chapter is prohibited, the unlawful use of the information contained in or derived from the Registry or Supplement for purposes of intimidating or harassing another is prohibited, and a willful violation of this chapter is a Class 1 misdemeanor. For purposes of this section, absent other aggravating circumstances, the mere republication or reasonable distribution of material contained on or derived from the publicly available Internet offender database shall not be deemed intimidation or harassment.