21.16The Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA)
Juveniles who are adjudicated responsible for or convicted of certain offenses in delinquency, designated, automatic waiver, or traditional waiver proceedings are required to register under the Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA), MCL 28.721 et seq.1 MCL 712A.18(17). MCL 712A.18(17) provides that if the Family Division has entered an order of disposition or a judgment of conviction for an offense that is listed in MCL 28.722,2 the court, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the county juvenile agency3 must register the juvenile or accept the juvenile’s registration as provided in the SORA.4 For detailed discussion of these registration requirements, see Chapter 9 of the Michigan Judicial Institute’s Sexual Assault Benchbook.
1 MCL 28.722(a)(iii) provides, in relevant part, that a juvenile is “convicted” under the Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA) if the court has entered an order of disposition under MCL 712A.18 that is open to the general public under MCL 712A.28. MCL 712A.28(3) provides, in relevant part, “[b]eginning January 1, 2021, except as otherwise provided, records of a case brought before the court are not open to the general public and are open only to persons having a legitimate interest.” Accordingly, because orders of disposition are generally not open to the public, unless otherwise provided, an individual cannot be “convicted” under SORA for sealed dispositional orders. MCL 28.722(a)(iii) has not been amended in response to MCL 712A.28(3).
2 “’Listed offense’ means a tier I, tier II, or tier III offense.” MCL 28.722(i). A tier I offense is defined in MCL 28.722(r), a tier II offense is defined in MCL 28.722(t), and a tier III offense is defined in MCL 28.722(v). See the Michigan Judicial Institute’s Sexual Assault Benchbook, Chapter 9, for the current listed offenses.
3 See Section 16.17(B) and Section (C) for discussion of county juvenile agencies.
4 Effective July 1, 2011, 2011 PA 17 and 2011 PA 18 made significant amendments to the SORA in order to comply with the requirements of the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). For a summary of SORNA’s requirements and content, see http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/pdfs/final_sornaguidelines.pdf. Discussion of specific registration requirements under the SORA is beyond the scope of this benchbook. For detailed information on the SORA, including both general and juvenile-specific information, see the Michigan Judicial Institute’s Sexual Assault Benchbook, Chapter 9.