How long is a sex offender on the offenders list?

AS it stands right now in most States...forever.

Some states will allow Level 1 (low risk of reoffense), undesignated (not a sexual predator, etc.) offenders whose crime did not involve a minor to stop registering after a set number of years. In New York, the registration period is 20 years for such people; all other sex offenders are required to register for life.

WRONG>>>each state is different until the Adam Walsh Act is in place. You can find this information on your state sex offender web site. In general tier1 offenders register for 15 years< tier2 =25 years, tier3= life . This has been challenged and won recently so these laws will be revised again soon. These time frames typically do not include the time on supervision such as probation/parole etc. For example a simple misdemeanor is sentenced to 5 years probation and forced to register. The 5 years on probation do not count towards the 15 year registration requirement. This offender would register for 20 years while Georgia is in the process of elliminating misdemeanors from the state registry completely.