What You Need to Know About Michigan’s Sex Offenders Registration Act

On September 9, 2026, the Michigan Supreme Court held that SORA 2021 cannot be retroactively applied to people whose registrable offenses preceded the 2011 amendments to the statute. For more information about the Michigan Supreme Court’s decisions, see here.

The ACLU of Michigan is committed to fighting for the rights of people required to register under Michigan’s Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA) and their families, and to supporting survivors of sexual offenses, in order to make Michigan communities safer for all of us. We have therefore litigated and advocated for change to SORA for many years. Most recently, we filed Does III, a lawsuit challenging the most recent version of SORA. On March 26, 2025, the Court entered judgment in Does III, finding that many parts of SORA are unconstitutional, including retroactive changes to registration requirements for people with pre-2011 offenses, the lack of due process for people with non-Michigan convictions, and reporting requirements that are confusing and limit registrants’ free speech rights. The judgment does not take immediate effect. You can find more information about this lawsuit, along with documents from this case, here.

The requirements under SORA have also greatly changed over the years. Recent information about SORA and our Does II lawsuit can be found here. Court-approved notices to registrants in the Does II case in English, Spanish, and Arabic can be found here. Court-approved summaries of the Does II decision, which provide information for the legal community, can be found here. A presentation providing updates on our cases and the new law can be found here.

Before a recent decision by the Michigan Supreme Court that resulted in the removal of many registrants, Michigan’s registry was one of the largest in the country, and included approximately 45,000 Michiganders, and approximately 10,000 more people living out of state.

The research shows that registries undermine public safety and needlessly waste taxpayer money. For more information, please visit the Basic Facts about SORA page.

The ACLU of Michigan has been fighting to reform SORA for more than a decade. To find more information on our lawsuits, please visit the Legal Challenges to SORA: Case History page.

Michigan has repeatedly revised SORA over the past three decades. The most recent revision, effective March 24, 2021, continues a failed and bloated registry, and does not fix SORA’s constitutional problems. For more information about the new law, about how SORA has changed over time, and about model legislation that would better promote public safety, please visit the Legislative History page.

The ACLU will post important case documents and major updates on this website. You can also ask to be added to our email list to receive updates by clicking here or the button at the top of the page. Because there are almost 44,000 people on Michigan’s registry, the lawyers in this case cannot answer questions for individual registrants. If you have questions about your individual case, you should talk to an attorney.