SB296 Alabama 2011 Session

Updated Jul 26, 2021

Summary

Primary Sponsor: Cam Ward
Republican
Session: Regular Session 2011
Title: Sex offenders, notification and registration, comprehensive procedure for registration by adult and juvenile sex offenders, notification by law enforcement, employment and residency limited, registration fees authorized, Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Act, Secs. 13A-11-200, 13A-11-201, 13A-11-202, 15-20-1 to 15-20-38, inclusive, repealed (2011-21017)
Description: Existing law provides for registration and notification of convicted sex offenders.
This bill would substantially revise the sex offender registration and notification requirements.
Under existing law, all sex offenses are not specifically enumerated, and there is no provision addressing crimes that are not sex offenses but where the offender acts with sexual motivation.
This bill would include the sex offenses that are omitted in the current law and encompass crimes that are committed with a sexual motivation.
Under existing law, sex offenders are required to provide and verify certain information to law enforcement. In addition to current law, this bill would require the sex offender to register each residence where the sex offender resides, the name and address of any school that the sex offender attends, vehicle identifiers, telephone numbers, email addresses and instant message addresses or identifiers used, palm prints, passport and immigration documents, professional licensing information, and full criminal history.
This bill would also require adult sex offenders to verify their registration information four times a year.
Under existing law, adult sex offenders are required to verify their address prior to release from incarceration.
This requirement in the law has been declared unconstitutional by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals as applied to indigent homeless sex offenders. This bill would eliminate the existing verification process and require the adult sex offender to register prior to release from incarceration and immediately upon release in the county where the adult sex offender plans to reside, taking the burden off of law enforcement and eliminating the constitutional issue.
Under existing law, there are guidelines that provide for the establishment of a residence and for when a sex offender is prohibited from establishing a residence or living accommodation with a minor.
This bill would also provide guidelines as to the abandonment of a residence and prohibit the sex offender from establishing a residence with a minor if the offender's sibling was his or her victim or the sex offender was convicted of a crime involving force against a minor.
Under existing law, there is no provision for homeless sex offenders.
This bill would create registration requirements for homeless sex offenders and close the loophole that is in the current law. Homeless sex offenders would be required to register weekly until a fixed residence is established.
Under existing law, certain sex offenders are prohibited from working or living within 2,000 feet of a school or daycare.
This bill would give judges discretion to reduce or waive the distance restrictions for certain sex offenders who are terminally ill or permanently immobile. This bill would also give judges discretion over certain sex offenders to waive or reduce the employment distance restrictions. Additionally, this bill would establish how those boundaries are to be measured.
Under existing law, a sex offender may be declared a sexually violent predator based on a mental abnormality or personality disorder. This bill would base that determination on the sex offender's actions and previous criminal history.
Under existing law, judges have discretion to exempt a juvenile or youthful offender from notification if the offender is charged with rape in the second degree.
This bill would give judges the discretion to exempt juveniles and certain youthful offenders from registration and notification if the sexual offense was consensual and only a crime due to the ages of the victim and offender.
Under existing law, juvenile sex offenders are subject to registration for a period of 10 years; the state must petition the court for a hearing on a juvenile sex offender to apply notification, juvenile sex offenders are not subject to any living or working restrictions, and there is no requirement for juveniles who have out-of-state convictions to register in this state.
This bill would require certain juvenile sex offenders to register for life with the ability to petition the court for relief after 25 years. This bill would also require the court to hold a hearing on every juvenile sex offender to determine if community notification applies, prohibit juvenile sex offenders from living with their victims until sex offender treatment is complete and reunification is recommended by the treatment provider, prohibit juvenile sex offenders from working with children, and require that out-of-state juvenile sex offenders register upon entering this state.
Under existing law, youthful offender sex offenders are treated like juvenile sex offenders.
This bill would require youthful offender sex offenders who have attained the age of 18 at the time of the commission of the offense and are convicted of a sex offense to be treated as adult sex offenders.
This bill would provide for registration fees, fines, and filing fees.
This bill would provide registration requirements for when a sex offender travels.
This bill would create a penalty if a sex offender changes or alters his or her identification card issued by the Department of Public Safety.
This bill would create guidelines for sex offenders who fail to appear for registration or who abscond.
This bill would create the crime of harboring or aiding and abetting a convicted sex offender and provide for penalties.
This bill would provide that an order altering, amending, waiving, or suspending the requirements of this act, except as provided by law, shall be null, void, and of no effect.
Amendment 621 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 111.05 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, prohibits a general law whose purpose or effect would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds from becoming effective with regard to a local governmental entity without enactment by a 2/3 vote unless: it comes within one of a number of specified exceptions; it is approved by the affected entity; or the Legislature appropriates funds, or provides a local source of revenue, to the entity for the purpose.
The purpose or effect of this bill would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds within the meaning of the amendment. However, the bill does not require approval of a local governmental entity or enactment by a 2/3 vote to become effective because it comes within one of the specified exceptions contained in the amendment.
Subjects: Sex Offenders