Indiana has a comprehensive legal system in place for matters related to sexual offences. In addition to listing the penalties for sexual offences and the provision for including a sexual offender’s name in the Indiana Sex Offender Registry, the state’s laws has provisions for a non-incarcerated registrant to appeal the inclusion of his or her name in the Registry in order to have it removed from the list.
Since October 2013, law enforcement agencies in Indiana are required to notify an individual before including his or her name in the Sex Offender Registry. Upon receipt of this notification, that individual has the right to appeal the decision, provided certain conditions are met.
According to the Registration Appeal Procedure in Indiana for Non-Incarcerated Registrants section of the Indiana government’s website, one can challenge the Registry’s decision on the following grounds:
- The Registry incorrectly included the individual’s name, meaning that the individual is actually innocent.
- The Registry’s decision is based on public information that is incorrect and that needs to be changed.
- The Registry’s decision is based on public information that should not have been accessed by the Registry.
- The Registry overlooked some public information that it should have referred to while making the decision.
In the event that one or more of these conditions are met, it is important for the individual whose information is being included in the Registry to mention the error in the first protest. This is because, as the matter proceeds, one cannot make these claims unless or until another set of conditions are met.
In order to exercise the right to protest, the non-incarcerated person whose name is to be included in the Sex Offender Registry must submit a written document to the local law enforcement agency in which it clearly states that the law enforcement agency’s decision is incorrect or that the law enforcement agency has not followed the correct procedure to arrive at its decision.