SORNA FY 2021 Sex Offender and Registration Notification Act

The State will use this award to enhance programs designed to implement the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) portion of the Adam Walsh Act (42 U.S.C. § 16901, et seq.). The Adam Walsh Act (AWA) is designed to protect children and adults from sexual exploitation and violent crime, prevent child abuse and child pornography, promote Internet safety, and honor the memory of Adam Walsh and other crime victims. SORNA was enacted to protect the public from convicted sex offenders by establishing a comprehensive national system for the registration and notification of those offenders. SORNA funds will be used for developing and/or enhancing sex offender registration and notification programs that support substantial implementation of Title 1 of the AWA, known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). The Puerto Rico Department of Justice and the Criminal Justice Information Systems Office with SORNA 2021 funds intends to update the Filing Module of the Integrated Criminal Registry (RCI), in order to fortify the case management system for sexual offenders in the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico. The first phase of the Integrated Criminal Registry (RCI) Update Project will consist of updating and upgrading the Filing Module through the implementation of web services (Application Programming Interface) API, which will improve the information exchange between all systems, modules and applications connected to the Integrated Criminal Registry (RCI). The Filing module is the main criminal platform used in the jurisdiction for filing criminal charges against individuals and/or entities accused of crimes. In this module, the information of the investigated or accused individual is identified, recorded, and updated, as well as the crimes committed, the participants in the case, such as the victims, witnesses, reporting agents, and the investigating prosecutors in the case. Through the Filing module, Prosecutors initiate the registration of a criminal case, including a wide range of felonies, such as sexual offenses. When they ingest the information in the system, automatically a search is executed in databases from other agencies interconnected to the RCI. Also, throughout the Filing module, charges are filed electronically to the court system by sending digitized complaints. In this way, the digital file is created in the system, expediting the process of filing criminal charges in a proactive and safe manner by recording the information presented in the complaint filed in the state database. Once the case is filed, a referral is submitted to the Victims Compensation and Services Office. Moreover, autopsy reports, crime scene information, and evidence are also stored within this module. Furthermore, the Filing module is responsible for transferring the criminal information to the follow-up module to begin recording information on the stages of the criminal prosecution of the filed case. This upgrading will be implemented through modulated technology in order to guarantee the individualized, continuous, and uninterrupted operation of each module, including the Sex Offenders Registry in cases of fortuitous events, power outages, natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. In terms of the Sex Offenders Registry, said update will strengthen the interfaces with the databases that provide the information that feeds the Registry, through the accurate and precise exchange of socio-demographic information of the person investigated and/or accused of sexual offenses, which in turn will result in the effective initial handling of the case filed by the Prosecutors. The incorporation of innovative technologies will provide greater flexibility and agility to continue developing new operational features, create new functionalities, and integrations that will provide the necessary improvements for the prevention, clarification, criminal prosecution, and the Sex Offenders Registry.