North Dakota's sex offender registry has been ranked in the top 10 nationally by a review Web site.

TopTenREVIEWS ranked North Dakota's sex offender Web site ninth out of 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Florida ranked number one, followed by Arizona and Washington.

TopTenREVIEWS ranked the 51 Web sites based on five criteria: information provided, search functions, additional site features, ease of use and contact information.

The North Dakota registry received high marks from reviewers for providing descriptions and addresses for sex offenders, information about offenses committed, searches for offenders, e-mail updates about specific offenders and a glossary. The site also was considered "easy to use and clearly labeled."

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem's office runs the sex offender registry, which Stenehjem says "hundreds of thousands" of people visit. He said the North Dakota site's "plain English" and sometimes graphic explanations of offenses, rather than legal or statutory explanations, set the site apart from those of other states.

"I'm very proud of the marks North Dakota has for its Web site," he said.

The review praised North Dakota for "delivering the right information in the right format."

"Well-designed and useful, this site is a credit to the state and reflects commitment to the safety of North Dakota residents,"the review said.

The review recommended the North Dakota site provide information about offenders' distinguishing marks, like scars and tattoos, vehicle information, and work and school addresses and allow visitors to the site to search offenders' e-mail addresses and social networking information.

The Florida and Arizona sites allow visitors to search by e-mail addresses and social networking information, and Stenehjem said that may be coming soon for the North Dakota site. North Dakota already collects such information from sex offenders.

Stenehjem said the review was not completely correct, and he plans to let TopTenREVIEWS know about the errors for the next time it releases such a list. The review incorrectly stated that North Dakota's site updates weekly when it actually updates every time there is something to update on it. It also said the site did not identify violent sexual predators, however North Dakota does identify them under the label of sexually dangerous offenders.

With those and a few other corrections, Stenehjem thinks North Dakota's site could move further up the list.

"We could have been even in the top two or three,"he said.

To view the North Dakota sex offender Web site, visit http://www.sexoffender.nd.gov/

To view TopTenREVIEWS' report on sex offender registries, visit http://www.sex-offender-registry-review.toptenreviews.com.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)