Ark. Code Ann. » Title 12 Chapter 12
Arkansas Code Annotated

Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-905 (2026)

Applicability

✓ current as of May 2026
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  1. The registration or registration verification requirements of this subchapter apply to a person who:
    1. Is adjudicated guilty on or after August 1, 1997, of a sex offense, aggravated sex offense, or sexually violent offense;
    2. Is serving a sentence of incarceration, probation, parole, or other form of community supervision as a result of an adjudication of guilt on or after August 1, 1997, for a sex offense, aggravated sex offense, or sexually violent offense;
    3. Is acquitted on or after August 1, 1997, on the grounds of mental disease or defect for a sex offense, aggravated sex offense, or sexually violent offense;
    4. Is serving a commitment as a result of an acquittal on or after August 1, 1997, on the grounds of mental disease or defect for a sex offense, aggravated sex offense, or sexually violent offense; or
    5. Was required to be registered under the Habitual Child Sex Offender Registration Act, former § 12-12-901 et seq.
  2. A person who has been adjudicated guilty of a sex offense and whose record of conviction will be expunged under the provisions of §§ 16-93-301 — 16-93-303 is not relieved of the duty to register or verify registration.
    1. If the underlying conviction of the registrant is reversed, vacated, or set aside or if the registrant is pardoned, the registrant is relieved from the duty to register or verify registration.
    2. Registration or registration verification shall cease upon the receipt and verification by the Arkansas Crime Information Center of documentation from the:
      1. Court verifying the fact that the conviction has been reversed, vacated, or set aside; or
      2. Governor's office that the Governor has pardoned the registrant.

History. Acts 1997, No. 989, § 4; 1999, No. 1353, § 3; 2001, No. 1743, § 4; 2003, No. 1265, § 2; 2006 (1st Ex. Sess.), No. 4, § 2; 2007, No. 394, § 4.

A.C.R.C. Notes. The Habitual Child Sex Offender Registration Act, former § 12-12-901 et seq., referred to in subdivision (a)(5) of this section, was derived from Acts 1987, No. 587, §§ 1-10, which was subsequently repealed by Acts 1997, No. 989, § 23.

Amendments. The 2007 amendment substituted “registration verification” for “reregistration” or “reregister” throughout the section.

Research References

ALR.

Validity, Construction, and Application of State Statutory Requirement that Person Convicted of Sexual Offense in Other Jurisdiction Register or Be Classified as Sexual Offender in Forum State. 34 A.L.R.6th 171.

Case Notes

In General.

Where defendant was convicted of a sex offense and registered as a sex offender in another state, and while living in Arkansas for five years he was convicted of breaking and entering and felony theft of property and was given suspended sentences, but all the while he failed to register as a sex offender as required by subdivision (a)(2) of this section in the Sex Offender Registration Act, § 12-12-901 et seq., his failure to register or report a change of address was a Class D felony, and the state met its burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant violated a condition of his suspended sentences. Williams v. State, 351 Ark. 229, 91 S.W.3d 68 (2002).

Sentencing court had authority to order the registration of a defendant as a sexual offender because the defendant had been adjudicated guilty of public sexual indecency, under § 5-14-111, on or after August 1, 1997, and because § 12-12-903(13)(B)(ii) did not restrict the sentencing court's authority to order registration for a person's conviction as a sex offender for a sexual offense neither enumerated in § 12-12-903(13)(A)(i) nor included under the provisions of § 12-12-903(13)(B)(ii). Fountain v. State, 103 Ark. App. 15, 285 S.W.3d 706 (2008).

Defendant was properly convicted of knowingly failing to register as a sex offender under 18 U.S.C. § 2250 because he was subject to the registration requirements under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 846E-2(a) upon his Hawaii sex offense conviction and he had a duty to re-register when he re-entered Arkansas pursuant to this section and § 12-12-906. United States v. Brewer, 628 F.3d 975 (8th Cir. 2010), cert. denied, 565 U.S. 829, 132 S. Ct. 126, 181 L. Ed. 2d 48 (2011).

Circuit court properly denied defendant's motion to dismiss related to his conviction under § 12-12-904 for failure to comply with sex offender reporting requirements where defendant, who had been convicted of rape in 1993 and was imprisoned before the Sex Offender Registration Act of 1997 was enacted, argued that the 1993 order did not impose a registration requirement, as required by § 12-12-906. Defendant was found guilty of committing a registerable sex offense, he was in prison on August 1, 1997, which according to this section and judicial interpretation, meant that the registration and verification requirements applied to him, and there was no legislative directive to apply the § 12-12-906 requirement retroactively. Williams v. State, 2017 Ark. App. 526, 532 S.W.3d 614 (2017).

Trial court, upon resentencing, properly ordered defendant to register as a sex offender because, by pleading guilty to distributing, possessing, or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, defendant was ineligible for any sentence under the First Offender Act and was required by law to comply with the statutory sex-offender-registration requirements. Wilson v. State, 2019 Ark. App. 116 (2019).

Stalking.

Defendant was required to register as a sex offender where a trial court specifically found him guilty of stalking and ordered the registration. Brawner v. State, 2013 Ark. App. 413, 428 S.W.3d 600 (2013).

Cited: Hammock v. State, 2009 Ark. App. 414, 322 S.W.3d 22 (2009).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 24 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1999–2025 · leading case: Gerald Stow v. John Montgomery, Sheriff for Baxter Cnty., Arkansas, in His Off. Capacity, 2020 Ark. App. 310 (Ark. Ct. App. 2020).
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Gerald Stow v. John Montgomery, Sheriff for Baxter Cnty., Arkansas, in His Off. Capacity, 2020 Ark. App. 310 (Ark. Ct. App. 2020). · cites it 17× “He was sentenced to fourteen months in prison, with two additional years of 2 We reject Stow’s contention that Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-906 should not be read independently and is limited by Ark.”
Kellar v. Fayetteville Police Dep't, 5 S.W.3d 402 (Ark. 1999). · cites it 2× “See § 12-12-905. Because Kellar had two months left on his probation and his sexual offenses were included' in those crimes named in § 12-12-905, Kellar fell within the group of offenders required to register.”
Arkansas Dep't of Corr. v. Bailey, 247 S.W.3d 851 (Ark. 2007). · cites it 2× “In that letter, the SOAC noted that Bailey was required to register as a sex offender under Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-905 (a)(3) (Repl. 2003), which provides that the registration requirements apply to a person “who is committed following an acquittal.”
Sullivan v. State, 386 S.W.3d 507 (Ark. 2012). · cites it 2× “Ark.Code Ann. § 12-12-905(a)(l) (Repl. 2009).”
Williams v. State, 91 S.W.3d 68 (Ark. 2002). · cites it 2× “Williams argues that the trial court erred in revoking his suspended sentence, because the court applied a version of § 12-12-905 to him that was not in effect at the time he received his suspended sentence in October of 1997.”
Brawner v. State, 428 S.W.3d 600 (Ark. Ct. App. 2013). · cites it 2× “Arkansas Code Annotated section 12-12-905, which outlines who must register as a sex offender, states that the registration applies to a person who “[i]s adjudicated guilty on or after August 1, 1997, of a sex offense, aggravated sex offense, or sexually violent offense.”
Williams v. State, 2017 Ark. App. 526 (Ark. Ct. App. 2017). · cites it 3× “Also at issue, however, is § 12-12-905 (titled “Applicability”), which states in pertinent part: .”
Burchette v. Sex Offender Screening & Risk Assessment Comm., 288 S.W.3d 614 (Ark. 2008). · cites it 2× “These regulations must identify factors relevant to an offender’s future dangerousness and likelihood of reoffense or threat to the community.”
United States v. Brewer, 628 F.3d 975 (8th Cir. 2010). “This counter-intuitive argument is based upon Brewer’s strained construction of what is now Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-905 (a)(2). When enacted in 1997, this portion of section 12-12-905 provided in relevant part: The registration requirements of this subchapter apply to .”
State v. Lilleskov, 658 N.W.2d 904 (Minn. Ct. App. 2003). “See Ark.Code Ann. § 12-12-905 (2002); Colo.Rey.”
Fountain v. State, 285 S.W.3d 706 (Ark. Ct. App. 2008). · cites it 3× “Thus, under the clear language of sections 12-12-905 and 12-12-903(12)(A), the registration requirements of our Sex Offender Registration statute apply to a person adjudicated guilty of public sexual indecency on or after August 1, 1997.”
Morris v. State, 2015 Ark. App. 454 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 2× “A person must register as a sex offender if he or she “[i]s serving a sentence of incarceration, probation, parole, or other form of community supervision as a result of an adjudication of guilt on or after August 1, 1997, for a sex offense, aggravated sex offense, or sexually…”
Show all 24 citing cases →
— Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-905(a) — 1 case
Gerald Stow v. John Montgomery, Sheriff for Baxter Cnty., Arkansas, in His Off. Capacity, 2020 Ark. App. 310 (Ark. Ct. App. 2020). “He was sentenced to fourteen months in prison, with two additional years of 2 We reject Stow’s contention that Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-906 should not be read independently and is limited by Ark.”
— Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-905(a)(1) — 3 cases
Pedraza v. State, 2015 Ark. App. 205 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015).
Antonio Jamar Guyton v. State of Arkansas, 2020 Ark. App. 273 (Ark. Ct. App. 2020).
James Daniel Koonce v. State of Arkansas, 2023 Ark. App. 213 (Ark. Ct. App. 2023).
— Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-905(a)(2) — 1 case
Gerald Stow v. John Montgomery, Sheriff for Baxter Cnty., Arkansas, in His Off. Capacity, 2020 Ark. App. 310 (Ark. Ct. App. 2020). “He was sentenced to fourteen months in prison, with two additional years of 2 We reject Stow’s contention that Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-906 should not be read independently and is limited by Ark.”
— Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-905(a)(l) — 2 cases
Sullivan v. State, 386 S.W.3d 507 (Ark. 2012). “Ark.Code Ann. § 12-12-905(a)(l) (Repl. 2009).”
Fountain v. State, 285 S.W.3d 706 (Ark. Ct. App. 2008). “Thus, under the clear language of sections 12-12-905 and 12-12-903(12)(A), the registration requirements of our Sex Offender Registration statute apply to a person adjudicated guilty of public sexual indecency on or after August 1, 1997.”
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