Thirty-nine registered sex offenders, including rapists, kidnappers and child molesters, have reported to the state that they are doing volunteer work in Hawaii.

But if you want to know where the offenders are volunteering or the name of the organizations they’re helping, you’re out of luck. Officials are prohibited under state law from publicly revealing such information.

Even if a child rapist who has completed his sentence volunteers to help a youth group — and reports that information as required to the state — the state is not allowed to include the work address or name of the group on Hawaii’s sex offender registry website, which is designed to allow residents to track offenders in their communities.

Although the registry lists precise home addresses for offenders, state law permits the attorney general’s office to disclose only the street name where an offender works or volunteers and the ZIP code of that area — information that is, for the most part, useless for tracking purposes.

When the state Legislature in 2005 decided to revise what information to make public from law enforcement’s internal registry, it made employment details largely confidential, partly out of concern that an employer otherwise might be more reluctant to hire an offender, which could derail the offender’s rehabilitation and create added risk to the public.

As a compromise with those who argued that a fully informed public would be safer, the Legislature permitted only the street name of the workplace and ZIP code to be disclosed.

When lawmakers in 2008 added volunteer work and other information to what offenders must report to the state, the legislators made the volunteer information subject to the same disclosure requirements as the employment details. That meant only street names and ZIP codes could be publicly released.

For many of the changes, compromises were struck to balance the public’s right to know with the privacy rights of offenders who complete their sentences, those involved in the debate said.

"Every provision was about striking a balance," said Mark Bennett, who was state attorney general when the 2008 changes were made.

Although the state has been compiling volunteer information since 2009, it didn’t include any of that information on the public website until last month — after the Star-Advertiser inquired about why nothing about volunteering was appearing on the registry.

Among the 39 sex offenders who have informed the state about their volunteer work, five were convicted of kidnapping, five of rape and at least five of crimes involving children, according to state records.

Some convictions were from years or decades ago.

Because of the disclosure restrictions, the attorney general’s office said it could not say how many of the 39 were volunteering for youth organizations.