Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 6, § 178I (2026)

Report identifying sex offender; request for information; confidentiality

✓ current as of July 2026

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Section 178I. Any person who is 18 years of age or older and who states that he is requesting sex offender registry information for his own protection or for the protection of a child under the age of 18 or another person for whom the requesting person has responsibility, care or custody shall receive at no cost from the board a report to the extent available pursuant to sections 178C to 178P, inclusive, which indicates whether an individual identified by name, date of birth or sufficient personal identifying characteristics is a sex offender with an obligation to register pursuant to this chapter, the offenses for which he was convicted or adjudicated and the dates of such convictions or adjudications. Any records of inquiry shall be kept confidential, except that the records may be disseminated to assist or defend in a criminal prosecution.

Information about an offender shall be made available pursuant to this section only if the offender is a sex offender who has been finally classified by the board as a level 2 or level 3 sex offender.

All reports to persons making inquiries shall include a warning regarding the criminal penalties for use of sex offender registry information to commit a crime or to engage in illegal discrimination or harassment of an offender and the punishment for threatening to commit a crime under section 4 of chapter 275.

The board shall not release information identifying the victim by name, address or relation to the offender.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 2 cases, 1997–2019 · leading case: Doe v. Attorney Gen., 426 Mass. 136 (Mass. 1997).

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Doe v. Attorney Gen., 426 Mass. 136 (Mass. 1997). “See G. L. c. 6, §§ 178I, 178J, 178K (2) (a), 178K (2) (c); 803 Code Mass.”

Moe v. Sex Offender Registry Bd., 124 N.E.3d 160 (Mass. App. Ct. 2019). “8 Finally, the plaintiff contends that the public dissemination of his information under G. L. c. 6, §§ 178I, 178J, and 178K (2), is further punishment for his prior crimes, and thus unconstitutional under a variety of theories -- as an ex post facto law, as a violation of…”

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