District of Columbia

Just don't get any crazy ideas about getting anywhere close to the White House

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

D.C. Code 2019 §§22-4001 thru 22-4017; C.D.C.R. §§6-A400 thru 6-A499.

AWA Compliant

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Initial registration is required within 3 business days for those released from incarceration, or “who enter the District of Columbia from another jurisdiction to live, work, or attends school.”  “Work” defined as a period exceeding 14 days or 30 days in a calendar year.  Updates to registration info within 3 business days. §§6-A406.2, 6-A412, 6-A499 (“Day” defined as business day).

Note:  No statutory provision addresses temporary domicile or visitors, but you should assume that staying in the District more than 14 consecutive days or 30 days in a calendar year would trigger registration under the definition of “work.”

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

None

Duration & updates:

10 years or life. §22-4002.

Updates: lifetime registrants – quarterly; other registrants annually.

For those working, living or attending school, it’s unclear if there is a procedure available for removal from registry after departure.

Vigilling and reading the names of victims of vigilante violence 

at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court

Most recent visit: March 2023

Washington DC is, of course, a place that every American should visit. I had visited DC several times, but that was before - - before I wrecked my life.  Now that I’m traveling again I have gone back three times, most recently to attend Women Against the Registry (WAR)’s Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork conference in March 2023.  

The conference hotel was actually in Arlington, VA, but two of the event’s activities were in Washington DC – meetings with congressional staffers to present evidence and testimony in opposition to America’s registry system, and a vigil on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to protest the 20th anniversary of the Court’s ignorant and unjustified Smith vs Doe ruling that supported state registries. DC has no limit on the number of days a registrant can visit without having to register. Virginia’s limit is 30 days. This was the first time that registrants, their families and supporters have ever stood together at the Supreme Court. It filled me with inspiration and hope for the future.

My previous visit to DC was in July 2022 when I was tagging along with my family on their trip to the Northeast. We were in DC for 1 1/2 days.  

After meeting my family later that day at the Lincoln Memorial we took in the Vietnam War Memorial, MLK Memorial, Korean War Memorial etc.  There are almost no restaurants near the Mall. There are a whole lot of food trucks but my family didn’t want that so we ended up walking way too far for dinner, after which we split up for the night.  They stayed at an expensive hotel near the National Mall, while I stayed at an affordable motel near a Metro station in Maryland.  

The second day was museum day.  We were supposed to meet up early at the Washington monument but my family doesn’t know the meaning of the word “early” so we only visited two, the Hirshhorn and the Natural History Museum.  Be advised:  The Air and Space Museum is still closed for renovations and the African American History Museum requires advanced ticket reservations.  Others you can walk into without reservations.

In case you’re interested, you can’t get anywhere close to the White House or the Capital because, sadly, they are completely surrounded by barricades and suspicious-looking vehicles and cops.

We did all our touring on foot, and by the end I was completely wiped out.  We should have rented a bicycle or scooter at one of the many kiosks that nowadays dot all of the tourist area, but my ex-wife didn’t want to.  The way these things work would be, you pay for a 24 hour “membership” at any one of the kiosks.  Then, take any of the bikes in the rack and start your tour.  

Whenever you come to a spot where you want to stay for a while, put your bike in a nearby rack and log out at the kiosk.  No need to worry if somebody else takes that bike because when you come back to that (or any other) kiosk all you have to do is log back in and take any of the bikes in the rack.

At the end of that second day they went back to their expensive hotel and I went to visit and stay the night at my sister’s house in nearby Maryland.  For more information about Virginia or Maryland’s requirements for visiting registrants, see my blog posts about those states.