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WISCONSIN SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY INFORMATION
Information Access for Victims
VOICE/VINE Toll Free Access Line
1-800-398-2403
A Service to Help Protect Wisconsin's Citizens
Beginning June 1, 1997, Wisconsin Act 440, the Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification law, provides the public with automated access to information about offenders who are required to register with the Department of Corrections. Registration serves as a means for monitoring and tracking an offender's whereabouts. Providing access to the Registry information for law enforcement agencies, victims, public/private organizations and the general public is intended to promote public safety and help detect and prevent crime. Access to the Registry is provided by the Department of Corrections through the Sex Offender Registry Program.
REGISTRY INFORMATION ACCESS IS...available through a toll free 24-hour automated information system designed to provide community organizations, employers, and the general public with a means to directly access the Registry to find out whether a specific person is a registered sex offender.
REGISTRY INFORMATION ACCESS IS NOT...a crime hot line to report suspected criminal activity or a system to provide a list of offenders who reside in your neighborhood.
NOTE
The Registry only contains information on offenders convicted of certain sex crimes who, on or after 12/25/93, were:
- Sentenced;
- In an institutional setting;
- Discharged; or
- On community supervision.
WHAT YOU WILL HEAR
After you dial 1-800-398-2403, you will be asked to enter your Victim Identification Number (VIN). If you do not have a VIN, you will then be given a choice to either obtain instructions on how to proceed in accessing information or to directly proceed to the Registry access system.
If you do not have a Victim Identification Number, you will be told the following:
- Information maintained in the Registry only includes information on certain offenders since December 25, 1993;
- Use of this information to commit a crime against any registrant or to engage in any illegal discrimination or harassment is prohibited; and
- The number you have called is not a crime hot line and that any suspected criminal activity should be reported to local authorities.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
If you do not have a Victim Identification Number, you must be prepared to provide the following information regarding the person(s) whom you are inquiring about:
- *the person's full name
- *exact birth date, and either
- social security number, or
- driver's license number.
*required information
It is necessary to have the above information on the person(s) you are inquiring about, in order to ensure that a reliable search is made against the database, and that information provided to the caller is accurate. The purpose of requiring specific identifying information is to create a safeguard from providing false or misleading information from the Registry.
Providing insufficient or incomplete identifying information will lead to an inconclusive search of the Registry.
Victims, or members of their family, have a right to access information regarding the offender of their crime through the Sex Offender Registry. This information is available 24 hours a day by calling the VOICE/VINE toll-free telephone number (1-800-398-2403) and entering your assigned victim ID number. If you do not have a victim ID number, please contact the Victim/Witness Coordinator or District Attorney in the county of sentencing or the Department of Corrections, Office of Victim Services and Programs' toll free number at 1-800-947-5777 or, if in the Madison area, at 608-240-5888.
Since the system will prompt you to enter this information on a telephone keypad, it is recommended that you take the time to write this information out and convert letters to correspond to the numbers on the keypad. For example, "PERSON" is "737766" on your touch tone telephone. Use the "1" key for Q and Z.
WHAT INFORMATION YOU WILL RECEIVE
Information made available to community agencies, organizations and the general public through this toll free number includes:
- Verification if the person is on the Registry, and if yes,
- Date information was last updated
- Registrant name and any known aliases
- Conviction which requires registration, date of conviction and the state convicted in
- Registry status indicating if the registrant is not in compliance with the Registry requirements, as prescribed by law
- Name and phone number of supervising unit if the registrant is under current supervision by the Department of Corrections
Callers with a Victim Identification Number will have access to additional information.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO KNOW
- It is illegal to use information obtained through the Registry to commit a crime against any registrant or to engage in any illegal discrimination or harassment.
- The registrant's address will not be provided, nor will any victim information be disclosed. The Registry will not provide information or identify those individuals who were adjudicated under a juvenile court proceeding or who are under the age of 18.
The Registry does not contain information on all convicted sex offenders or those individuals whose sexually violent behaviors have not come to the attention of the authorities. The information contained in the Registry is limited by the effective date of the law (12/25/93) and to those offenders who have been arrested and convicted, adjudicated or committed for a crime specified under the law. Please consider these limitations when obtaining information from the Registry.
For more information or paper copies of this booklet contact:
WI Department of Corrections
Sex Offender Registry Program (SORP)
3099 E Washington Avenue
PO Box 7925
Madison, WI 53707-7925
1-877-234-0085 (toll free)
WI Department of Corrections
Office of Victim Services and Programs
3099 E Washington Avenue
PO Box 7925
Madison, WI 53707-7925
1-800-947-5777 (toll free)
608-240-5888 (Madison area)
WIVictimsVoice.org
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1-800-398-2403
