ACT Policing figures have revealed 10 Canberrans were added to the register from June 30 last year, compared to almost 20 during the 12 months to June 2017.

An ACT Policing spokeswoman said there were now 165 people listed on the register.

Almost half of the offenders on the register were added in the past six years, with more than 80 people added since 2012.

The increase in recent years has come after amendments made in 2015 made it easier for police to monitor child sex offenders.

Introduced by former attorney-general Simon Corbell, ACT police were given the power to publish the names, photos and identifying details of child sex offenders if they failed to report to police.

While the names and faces of those on the register are not made public, the information is accessible by police.

All registers in each Australian state and territory are restricted in this way with the exception of Western Australia, where residents have been able to request information on the register by providing their name and driver's licence since 2012.

The new figures come as a recent Australian Institute of Criminology report found that public registers do not stop those on it from reoffending.

While registers were seen to have a small effect on deterring first-time offenders, it was not seen to reduce rates of recidivism.

ACT victims of crime commissioner Heidi Yates said registers for sex offenders in Canberra is only one of several methods that have to be considered in order to reduce offending rates.

"If registers are public or private, it has to be part of an overall response that sits alongside other methods. There's not going to be one magic wand," she said.

"Sexual offending across the community is an extremely complex area. The vast majority are perpetrated by someone known to the victims, and 80 per cent of victims of child sexual assault are by someone they know."

Those on the ACT register who have committed a category two offence -  such as an act of indecency against a child, child abduction or child-pornography related charges - are required to report to police for eight years.

Offenders who have committed a category one offence - which includes child sexual assault and the murder of a child - must report for 15 years.

Those on multiple charges must report for the rest of their life.