The register is a record of a range of up-to-date personal information about registered child sex offenders living in the community. It is a tool to help Police and Corrections staff with the monitoring of people who have been convicted for child sex offences, with the aim of preventing re-offending and keeping children safe.

People who are convicted of committing qualifying sexual offences against children and are sentenced to imprisonment or receive a non-custodial sentence and are ordered by the judge to be registered, are registered on the Child Sex Offender Register. They must have been 18 years or older when they committed the offence.

The aim of the Child Sex Offender Register is to improve child safety by having up to date information available on known child sex offenders living in the community that can be used to monitor risk of reoffending.

The New Zealand Police administer the register and staff from both Corrections and Police are involved in assessing risk of reoffending by registered individuals.

Information received about a registered person is assessed by their Police case manager (and their probation officer if the person is on parole or extended supervision order) and by specialist staff working in the Child Sex Offender Registry. They assess what effect changes in the registered person’s circumstances may have on their risk of reoffending, and whether preventative action needs to take place to try and reduce any increased risk and keep children safe.

Offenders who were convicted of a qualifying offence* and sentenced to imprisonment prior to legislation coming into force, and are still on a related sentence or order (eg. parole or extended supervision order) on that date, are required to be registered.

*Qualifying offences that were introduced in the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Amendment Bill enacted in 2025 are not retrospectively applied.

A person is registered for either 8 years, 15 years or for life, depending on the severity of the offence they committed and the sentence they received.

Once a registered person has completed their registration period, they will no longer need to report.

If a registered person goes overseas, the time they have on the register is put on hold. When they return to New Zealand their registration period recommences. The local law enforcement agency in the country/countries they travel to will be informed of the offender’s travel arrangements. If the travel plans of the registered person change before or during their travel, the changes need to be advised to the register.

The register obligations are additional to any other sentence or order requirements the registered person may have.