II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2363

To establish registration and tracking procedures and community notification

with respect to released sexually violent predators.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 4 (legislative day, JULY 20), 1994

Mr. GORTON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish registration and tracking procedures and community notification with respect to released sexually violent predators.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION. 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sexually Violent Pred5 ators Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) there exists a small but extremely dan9 gerous group of sexually violent persons who do not

10 have a mental disease or defect;
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1 (2) persons who are sexually violent predators

2 generally have antisocial personality features that—

3 (A) are not amenable to mental illness

4 treatment modalities in existence on the date of

5 enactment of this Act; and

6 (B) render the persons likely to engage in

7 sexually violent behavior;

8 (3) the likelihood that sexually violent predators

9 will repeat acts of predatory sexual violence is high;

10 and

11 (4) the prognosis for curing sexually violent

12 predators is poor and the treatment needs of the

13 population of the predators are very long-term.

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

15 As used in this Act:

16 (1) MENTAL ABNORMALITY.—The term ‘‘men17 tal abnormality’’ means a congenital or acquired

18 condition of a person that affects the emotional or

19 volitional capacity of the person in a manner that

20 predisposes the person to the commission of criminal

21 sexual acts to a degree that makes the person a

22 menace to the health and safety of other persons.

23 (2) PREDATORY.—The term ‘‘predatory’’, with

24 respect to an act, means an act directed toward a

25 stranger, or a person with whom a relationship has
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1 been established or promoted, for the primary pur2 pose of victimization.

3 (3) SEXUALLY VIOLENT OFFENSE.—The term

4 ‘‘sexually violent offense’’ means an act that is a vio5 lation of title 18, United States Code or State crimi6 nal code that—

7 (A) involves the use or attempted or

8 threatened use of physical force against the per9 son or property of another person; and

10 (B) is determined beyond a reasonable

11 doubt to be sexually motivated.

12 (4) SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR.—The term

13 ‘‘sexually violent predator’’ means a person who has

14 been convicted of a sexually violent offense and who

15 suffers from a mental abnormality or personality

16 disorder that makes the person likely to engage in

17 predatory sexually violent offenses.

18 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—

20 (1) STATE GUIDELINES.—In accordance with

21 this section, the Attorney General shall establish

22 guidelines for State programs to require a sexually

23 violent predator to register a current address with a

24 designated State law enforcement agency upon re25 lease from prison, being placed on parole, or being
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1 placed on supervised release. The Attorney General

2 shall approve each State program that complies with

3 the guidelines.

4 (2) STATE COMPLIANCE.—

5 (A) IMPLEMENTATION DATE.—A State

6 that does not implement a program described in

7 paragraph (1) by the date that is 3 years after

8 the date of enactment of this Act, and maintain

9 the implementation thereafter, shall be ineli10 gible for funds in accordance with subpara11 graph (B).

12 (B) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—

13 (i) IN GENERAL.—A State that does

14 not implement the program as described in

15 subparagraph (A) shall not receive 10 per16 cent of the funds that would otherwise be

17 allocated to the State under section 506 of

18 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe

19 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3756).

20 (ii) REALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—

21 Funds made available under clause (i)

22 shall be reallocated, in accordance with

23 such section, to such States as implement

24 the program as described in subparagraph

25 (A).
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1 (b) REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT UPON RELEASE,

2 PAROLE, OR SUPERVISED RELEASE.—

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—An approved State program

4 established in accordance with this section shall con5 tain the requirements described in this section.

6 (2) DETERMINATION.—The determination that

7 a person is a ‘‘sexually violent predator’’ and the de8 termination that a person is no longer a ‘‘sexually

9 violent predator’’ shall be made by the sentencing

10 court after receiving a report by a board of experts

11 on sexual offenses. Each State shall establish a

12 board composed of experts in the field of the behav13 ior and treatment of sexual offenders.

14 (3) NOTIFICATION.—If a person who is re15 quired to register under this section is anticipated to

16 be released from prison, paroled, or placed on super17 vised release, a State prison officer shall, not later

18 than 90 days before the anticipated date of the re19 lease or commencement of the parole—

20 (A) inform the person of the duty to reg21 ister;

22 (B) inform the person that if the person

23 changes residence address, the person shall give

24 the new address to a designated State law en-
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1 forcement agency in writing not later than 10

2 days after the change of address;

3 (C) obtain the name of the person, identi4 fying factors, anticipated future residence, of5 fense history, and documentation of any treat6 ment received for the mental abnormality or

7 personality disorder of the person; and

8 (D) require the person to read and sign a

9 form stating that the duty of the person to reg10 ister under this section has been explained.

11 (4) TRANSFER OF INFORMATION TO STATE AND

12 THE FBI.—Not later than 3 days after the receipt

13 of the information described in paragraph (2), the

14 officer shall forward the information to a designated

15 State law enforcement agency. As soon as prac16 ticable after the receipt of the information by the

17 State law enforcement agency, the agency shall—

18 (A) enter the information into the appro19 priate State law enforcement record system and

20 notify the appropriate law enforcement agency

21 that has jurisdiction over the area in which the

22 person expects to reside; and

23 (B) transmit the information to the Identi24 fication Division of the Federal Bureau of In25 vestigation.
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1 (5) QUARTERLY VERIFICATION.—

2 (A) MAILING TO PERSON.—Not less than

3 every 90 days after the date of the release or

4 commencement of parole of a person under

5 paragraph (2), the designated State law en6 forcement agency shall mail a nonforwardable

7 verification form to the last reported address of

8 the person.

9 (B) RETURN OF VERIFICATION FORM.—

10 (i) IN GENERAL.—The person shall

11 return, by mail, the verification form to

12 the agency not later than 10 days after the

13 receipt of the form. The verification form

14 shall be signed by the person, and shall

15 state that the person continues to reside at

16 the address last reported to the designated

17 State law enforcement agency.

18 (ii) FAILURE TO RETURN.—If the per19 son fails to mail the verification form to

20 the designated State law enforcement

21 agency by the date that is 10 days after

22 the receipt of the form by the person, the

23 person shall be in violation of this section

24 unless the person proves that the person
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1 has not changed the residence address of

2 the person.

3 (6) NOTIFICATION OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCE4 MENT AGENCIES OF CHANGES IN ADDRESSES.—Any

5 change of address by a person required to register

6 under this section that is reported to the designated

7 State law enforcement agency shall as soon as prac8 ticable be reported to the appropriate law enforce9 ment agency that has jurisdiction over the area in

10 which the person is residing.

11 (7) PENALTY.—A person required to register

12 under a State program established pursuant to this

13 section who knowingly fails to register and keep the

14 registration current shall be subject to criminal pen15 alties in the State. It is the sense of Congress that

16 the penalties should include imprisonment for not

17 less than 180 days.

18 (8) TERMINATION OF OBLIGATION TO REG19 ISTER.—The obligation of a person to register under

20 this section shall terminate on a determination made

21 in accordance with the provision of paragraph (2) of

22 this section that the person no longer suffers from

23 a mental abnormality or personality disorder that

24 would make the person likely to engage in a preda25 tory sexually violent offense.
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1 (c) COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION.—The designated

2 State law enforcement agency shall release relevant infor3 mation that is necessary to protect the public concerning

4 a specific sexually violent predator required to register

5 under this section.

6 (d) IMMUNITY FOR GOOD FAITH CONDUCT.—Law

7 enforcement agencies, employees of law enforcement agen8 cies, and State officials shall be immune from liability for

9 any good faith conduct under this section.

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