Pennsylvania provides little public information about sex offenders compared with states that get an "A" from the national watchdog group, Parents for Megan's Law.

Street addresses are released only for sexually violent predators, who account for 104 of more than 7,800 sex offenders on the state registry. For no sex offenders are the ages or genders of victims listed, nor is there a brief narrative explaining what offenders were convicted of doing.

To protect themselves, people need to know more details, said Laura A. Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, such as whether a sex offender living nearby snatched a woman off the street and raped her or "groomed" a young boy by gaining his confidence and then sexually assaulted him.

Florida, which earned an "A+" from her group, provides on its Web site the street addresses of all sex offenders; dated photos; personal details such as height, weight, scars and tattoos; the gender of victims and whether they were minors; and the status of offenders -- supervised, confined in a county, state or federal facility, released or absconded.

The site provides more powerful search capabilities, allowing visitors to do such things as search only for designated sexually violent predators or to list all sex offenders living within 1-mile increments, up to 5 miles, from an entered address.

Lt. Janet McNeal, head of the Pennsylvania State Police's Megan's Law section, said Pennsylvania's sex offender registry contained everything the law allows.

Lt. McNeal said Pennsylvania State Police officials felt that allowing people to search the Web site only for sexually violent predators would give the false impression that only those offenders posed a potential threat.

At any given time, she said, about 5 percent to 10 percent of registered sex offenders have moved without notifying the police, as required. That's about half the national average, but while some states alert Web users that a sex offender is a fugitive, Pennsylvania does not.

Lt. McNeal said placing fugitive information on the Web site had been discussed but rejected. "The legislation was very specific," she said. "It didn't specify that."

One of the downsides to publicizing fugitives, she said, is "tipping somebody that we're looking for them."

Just this week, the state rolled out an enhanced Web site that includes the dates that photos of sex offenders were submitted. Lt. McNeal said this would allow "savvy users," those who know that new photos are taken when sexually violent predators confirm their addresses quarterly and sex offenders do so annually, to be able to discern if someone is a fugitive. New links also will let people know if sex offenders remain incarcerated.

Lt. McNeal conceded that even these enhancements don't make it easy for Pennsylvanians to get some information that is readily available in other states.

"It would be easier if there was a change in the law," she said. "If the legislators would change the law and let us put up the full address [for all sex offenders], all of the problems would go away."