08.30.12

Delegation Announces $1 Million Grant to Help Tribes Implement Programs to Protect Communities Against Sex Offenders

WASHINGTON – Senators John Hoeven and Kent Conrad and Congressman Rick Berg announced today that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has awarded four federal grants totaling more than $1 million to assist North Dakota tribes in efforts to develop and enhance sex offender registration and notification programs that comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) of 2006.

“Protecting the public from convicted sex offenders and offenders against children is a top priority for state, local and tribal jurisdictions across the country,” the delegation said in a joint release. “Enacting SORNA has been an important step in our efforts to establish a strong, nationwide system to register these offenders, and the DOJ grants awarded to our state’s tribes will help in their important work implementing this measure.”

The DOJ grants, allocated through Support for Adam Walsh Act Implementation Grant Program, have been awarded to Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe. Each tribe plans to use the grant to further their efforts towards implementation of SORNA. SORNA was enacted to protect the public from convicted sex offenders and seeks to close potential gaps and loopholes by strengthening the nationwide network of sex offender registration and notification programs.