What States Require You to Register as a Felon?

Only one state, Florida, requires people with felony convictions generally to register with law enforcement. Kansas and Montana require registration for certain violent offenses, and Kansas also registers some drug offenders. A few states run narrow registries for specific crimes like arson or methamphetamine manufacturing. Every state, meanwhile, requires sex offender registration, which is a separate system with its own federal floor. So the question of what states require you to register as a felon has a short answer for most felonies and a long one for sex offenses.

Florida Requires Registration for Any Felony

Florida is the outlier. Anyone with a felony conviction, from any state or federal court, must register with the local sheriff within 48 hours of entering a Florida county, as long as the conviction would qualify as a felony under Florida law. Registration means fingerprints, a photograph, and disclosure of the crime, place of conviction, sentence, name, aliases, address, and occupation.¹

The law carves out several exemptions. You do not have to register if your civil rights have been restored, you received a full pardon, or you were lawfully released from incarceration or supervision more than five years ago with no new convictions in that period. People already registered as sexual predators or sexual offenders under Florida’s separate statutes are also exempt from the general felon registration requirement.¹

Failing to register is a second-degree misdemeanor for most felons in Florida. If the underlying conviction involved gang activity, the penalty rises to a first-degree misdemeanor.¹

Florida’s felon registry is law-enforcement-facing rather than public, and the five-year clock means the obligation is not permanent for most people. The real risk is the 48-hour deadline. Enter a Florida county, miss the window, and the paperwork lapse becomes a new criminal charge.

Kansas Registers Violent and Drug Offenders

Kansas runs three registries under the Kansas Offender Registration Act: sex offenders, violent offenders, and drug offenders. Each category is defined by a specific list of qualifying offenses.

Violent offender registration applies to anyone convicted on or after July 1, 1997, of capital murder, first- or second-degree murder, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, criminal restraint of a minor, or aggravated human trafficking. It also covers anyone convicted of a person felony committed with a deadly weapon on or after July 1, 2006.²

Drug offender registration applies to anyone convicted on or after July 1, 2007, of manufacturing or attempting to manufacture a controlled substance, or possessing precursor chemicals with intent to manufacture.²

Registration terms run 15 years, 25 years, or life depending on the offense category and severity.³

Montana Registers Violent Offenders

Montana requires violent offenders to register for 10 years following release from confinement, or 10 years from the sentencing hearing if no prison time was imposed. The duty ends automatically after 10 clean years, and the Department of Justice removes the person from the registry.⁴

There is a catch. A violent offender who is convicted of failing to register, or of any felony during that 10-year window, becomes a lifetime registrant. The person can then petition the sentencing court for relief after serving at least 10 years on the lifetime registration. The court weighs whether the person has remained law-abiding and whether continued registration serves the public interest, and the court must notify the victim before ruling.⁴

Narrow Registries for Specific Crimes

A small number of states maintain registries aimed at particular categories of crime. Illinois runs a statewide Arsonist Database maintained by the Illinois State Police, covering convictions for arson, aggravated arson, residential arson, place of worship arson, or possession of explosive or incendiary devices. Kansas, Tennessee, Minnesota, and Illinois have also created registries for people convicted of manufacturing or selling methamphetamine.

These are the exceptions. Most states rely on their sex offender registry as the primary offender tracking tool and handle other felonies through general criminal records systems rather than stand-alone registries.

Sex Offender Registration Applies in Every State

All 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and federally recognized tribes maintain sex offender registries. The federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, known as SORNA, sets minimum national standards every jurisdiction must meet or work toward.⁵ Offenses that trigger registration include rape, sexual assault, child molestation, and production or distribution of child pornography. Registration and public notification happen primarily at the state level, with federal standards providing the floor.⁶

SORNA sorts sex offenders into three tiers that set how long they register and how often they must appear in person to verify their information.

Tier I covers sex offenses not severe enough for a higher tier. Registration lasts 15 years with annual in-person verification.
Tier II covers felony sex offenses punishable by more than one year involving minors, such as sex trafficking of a minor, solicitation of a minor, and production or distribution of child pornography. Registration lasts 25 years with in-person verification every six months.
Tier III covers the most serious felony sex offenses, including aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact against a child under 13, and kidnapping of a minor. Registration is for life with in-person verification every 90 days.

These are federal minimums.⁷⁸ Individual states can and often do impose stricter requirements. Kansas, for example, imposes 15-year and 25-year terms depending on the specific offense, plus lifetime registration for crimes like rape and aggravated criminal sodomy.³

SORNA offers one path to shorten the term. A Tier I offender with a clean record can have registration cut from 15 years to 10. A lifetime registrant whose obligation stems from a juvenile adjudication can petition for termination after 25 clean years. A clean record means no new conviction carrying more than one year of imprisonment, no new sex offense conviction, completion of all supervised release or parole, and completion of a certified sex offender treatment program.⁹

What Happens When You Move Between States

Registration obligations follow you across state lines. Under SORNA, sex offenders must register in every jurisdiction where they live, work, or go to school.¹⁰ Moving to a new state triggers the new state’s requirements, which may be stricter than the old state’s. A conviction classified as Tier I in your former state might land in Tier II in the new one.

For non-sex-offense felon registration, the calculus is different. Moving to Florida from a state without general felon registration creates a Florida registration duty within 48 hours. Moving from Florida to a state without felon registration may end that Florida obligation, but any active sex offender registration still travels with you. Check both the outgoing and incoming state’s rules before any move.

Penalties for Failing to Register

Federal law treats sex offender registration violations as serious crimes. Knowingly failing to register or update a sex offender registration, or failing to report international travel, carries up to 10 years in federal prison. If a registrant out of compliance with SORNA commits a violent crime, the penalty rises to a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 30 years, stacked on top of the sentence for the new crime.¹¹

State penalties for non-sex-offense registration vary and tend to be milder on paper. Florida treats a general felon registration failure as a second-degree misdemeanor.¹ Montana’s consequence is structural: a violent offender who fails to register or commits any new felony during the 10-year period converts a limited obligation into lifetime registration.⁴

1
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 775 Section 13
2
Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Kansas Code 22-4902
3
Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Kansas Code 22-4906 – Duration and Termination of Registration Requirement
4
Montana State Legislature. Montana Code 46-23-506 – Duty of Registration – Duration, Frequency, Reduction
5
Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. Current Law
6
U.S. Department of Justice. Sex Offender Registration Violations
7
GovInfo. 34 USC 20911
8
Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. SORNA In Person Registration Requirements
9
Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. Registration FAQs
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC 20913 – Registry Requirements for Sex Offenders
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2250