Montana 2023 Sex Offender and Registration Notification Act Reallocation Program

The Montana Board of Crime Control (MBCC) requests 2023 SORNA Reallocation Funds to move Montana further toward substantial implementation of SORNA.

Since 2006, Montana has been working towards substantial implementation, with considerable progress. Several areas remain not been fully implemented. One of these areas is Category ID IV, the Compliance Area of Required Registration Information. Specifically, it involves the required capture and submission of offenders' palm prints. This project aims to address the issue of palm print submission and improve the timeliness of information processing for offender registrations.

In March 2020, MTDOJ completed and deployed a criminal history portal update as part of a NCHIP 2016 project. As part of this project, a new Montana State Registry (MSR) central repository was established to track all Montana sex offender records. The MSR monitors, registers, and tracks sex offenders. Preliminary records are created when disposition data is entered into the Montana Criminal History system, when notification is received from the SORNA Portal about an offender relocating to Montana, or manually by an MSR user. The system provides direct access to local, state, and federal partners, and allows local agencies to manage the sex offenders within their jurisdiction using their own work queue. The implementation of the MSR has streamlined the management of Montana's sex offenders, reducing redundancies, and increasing efficiency by improving the timeliness, accuracy, and completeness of their records in the NCIC.

The proposed MTDOJ project seeks funds to obtain and deploy three palm-capable livescans at three criminal justice entities responsible for sex offender registration.  These livescans will enable registering agencies to capture not only fingerprints but also palm prints. They will be deployed in secure administrative locations outside of detention center booking areas and will be networked to the MTDOJ Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS). This will allow the fingerprint and palm print transactions to be submitted electronically, initiating the sex offender registration. The MTDOJ ABIS is already equipped to receive and process palm prints, so no additional infrastructure or programming is required. Experienced MTDOJ business and IT personnel will provide operator training for the use of the systems and compliance training on statutory and timeliness requirements for sex offender registration, ensuring the efficient and effective completion of this project.

Montana's criminal justice partners have a strong history of cooperation and information sharing, working together toward substantial implementation of SORNA requirements.