HB3203

Report Title:

Crime

Description:

Mandates the use of location-transmitting devices for certain sexual offenders.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	3203
TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO CRIME.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that in 2005, 9-year old Jessica Lunsford was kidnapped from her bedroom, raped, and killed by a registered sex offender. The offender eluded police by staying with a relative, and not at the address registered with law enforcement. Discussion after the horrific incident in Florida touched on numerous issues, including the technical shortcomings of "Megan's Laws" across the nation as evidenced by the Jessica Lunsford case.

Congress and other states responded by proposing legislation requiring registered sex offenders to wear electronic tracking devices at all times. This would allow law enforcement to better enforce Megan's Law. The legislature finds that mandating the use of electronic tracking devices for registered sex offenders would prove a useful tool in tracking registered sex offenders and reducing recidivism rates.

SECTION 2. Chapter 706, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§706 - Repeat violent and sexual offender; registered; electronic device. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any person who is convicted of a sexually violent offense or a criminal offense against a victim who is a minor, or any person who is charged with a sexually violent offense or a criminal offense against a victim who is a minor and is found unfit to proceed or who is acquitted due to a physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect pursuant to chapter 704, shall, upon release from imprisonment for the immediate offense, or upon acquittal from a charge of a sexually violent offense or a criminal offense against a victim who is a minor due to a physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect pursuant to chapter 704, wear at all times a location-transmitting device (such as an anklet) for a period of not less than 10 years.

(b) Subsection (a) shall only be applicable where a person has been previously convicted on at least one prior and separate occasion of a sexually violent offense or a criminal offense against a victim who is a minor, or charged with a sexually violent offense or a criminal offense against a victim who is a minor and is found unfit to proceed or who is acquitted due to a physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect pursuant to chapter 704, or of an offense under federal law or the laws of another state that is comparable to a sexually violent offense or a criminal offense against a victim, as defined in this section.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any person who is convicted of an offense under chapter 846E shall, upon release from imprisonment for the immediate offense, wear at all times a location-transmitting device (such as an anklet) for a period of not less than 10 years.

(d) Persons mandated to wear a location-transmitting device pursuant to this section shall reimburse the department of public safety for the cost of the device.

(e) As used in this section:

"Criminal offense against a victim who is a minor" means any criminal offense that consists of:

(1) Kidnapping of a minor, except by a parent;

(2) Unlawful imprisonment in the first degree of a minor, except by a parent;

(3) Criminal sexual conduct toward a minor;

(4) Solicitation of a minor who is less than fourteen years old to engage in sexual conduct;

(5) Use of a minor in a sexual performance, or any crime defined in part VI of chapter 707 involving:

(A) Sexual conduct;

(B) Attempted sexual conduct; or

(6) Solicitation of a minor to practice prostitution;

(7) Any conduct that by its nature is a sexual offense against a minor, but excludes conduct that is criminal only because of the age of the victim, as provided in section 707-730(1)(b) or section 707-732(1)(b), if the perpetrator is eighteen years of age or younger;

(8) An act, as described in chapter 705, that is an attempt, criminal solicitation, or criminal conspiracy to commit one of the offenses designated in paragraphs (1) through (7); or

(9) Any state, federal, or military law similar to paragraphs (1) through (8).

"Location transmitting device" means a device capable of monitoring of a person within a specified location or locations by means of a global positioning device approved by the Department of Public Safety with active supervision by officers or other employees of the Department of Public Safety.

"Sexually violent offense" means an act committed on, before, or after July 1, 1997, that is:

(1) An act defined in section 707-730(1)(a), 707-730(1)(b), 707-731(1)(a), 707-731(1)(b), 707-732(1)(a), 707-732(1)(e), and 707-733(1)(a);

(2) A criminal offense that is comparable to a sexually violent offense as defined in paragraph (1) or any federal or out-of-state conviction, for any offense that under the laws of this State would be a sexually violent offense as defined in paragraph (1); or

(3) An act, as described in chapter 705, that is an attempt, criminal solicitation, or criminal conspiracy to commit one of the offenses designated in paragraph (1) or (2)."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007, for the purpose of purchasing location-transmitting devices to effectuate the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of public safety for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2006.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________