= Texas Sex Offender Registry Race/Ethnicity Audit =
{{anchor name="texas-sex-offender-registry-race-ethnicity-audit"/}}

== Overview ==
On **September 9, 2023**, Unbiased Crime Report (@UnbiasedCrime) published an in-depth analysis of the Texas Department of Public Safety’s sex offender registry, focusing on race and ethnicity misclassifications. The thread examines a database of 101,976 registrants and highlights systemic data errors that misrepresent non-White offenders as White.

== Data Collection ==
1. Downloaded the full Texas Sex Offender Registry: **101,976** entries.  
2. Queried the database to flag potential mismatches between surnames, self-reported race/ethnicity, and demographic patterns.  
3. Used custom scripts to compute initial accuracy metrics.

== Key Findings ==
1. **Raw Misclassification Counts**  
   * Hispanics flagged as “Non-Hispanic White”: **11,541**  
   * Blacks flagged as White: **92**  
   * Asians flagged as White: **34**  
   * Whites flagged as Black: **1**  

2. **Accuracy Metrics**  
   * Initial accuracy: **89.48 %**.  
   * After manual verification: **92.27 %**.  
   * Remaining false positives to review: **2,590**.

3. **Notable Examples**  
   * Clusters of “Hernandez” surnames incorrectly marked as White.  
   * **Dequan**, a documented Black offender, listed as “Non-Hispanic White.”  
   * **Louby Innocent**, originally marked Black in Florida, appeared as White in Texas.

== Methodology ==
1. Automated surname-based queries to generate candidate mismatches.  
2. Manual review of flagged entries by cross-referencing public DPS records.  
3. Iterative re-runs to refine the matching algorithm and reduce false positives.

== Impact and Next Steps ==
1. Archived original registry entries to preserve evidence before corrections.  
2. Planned release of a comprehensive spreadsheet with all verified entries and source links.  
3. Recommendation: Texas DPS should implement routine data audits to ensure accurate race/ethnicity reporting.

== References ==
{{footnote reference="1"}}Unbiased Crime Report (@UnbiasedCrime). “Texas Sex Offender Registry Analysis!” Twitter thread, Sep 9, 2023. Available at [[Thread Reader App>>https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1700341490206310416]]{{/footnote}}  
{{footnote reference="2"}}Texas Department of Public Safety. “Sex Offender Registry.” Available at [[DPS Public Site>>https://publicsite.dps.texas.gov/SexOffenderRegistry]]{{/footnote}}

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Figure 1: Comparison

Figure 2: Archived Examples