Senate Bill No. 290
(By Senators White, Barnes, Weeks, Caruth, Hunter and Unger)
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[Introduced January 26, 2006; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §15-13-1 §15-13-2,
§15-13-3, §15-13-4, §15-13-5 and §15-13-6, all relating to the
creation and establishment of a crime victim notification
system.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §15-13-1
§15-13-2,
§15-13-3, §15-13-4, §15-13-5 and §15-13-6, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13. VICTIM NOTIFICATION ACT.
§15-13-1. Short title.
This article may be cited as the "Victim Notification Act."
§15-13-2. Establishment of statewide system.
The Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety shall
establish a statewide automated victim information and notification system designed to accomplish the following:
(a) Automatically notify a registered victim via their choice
of telephone, letter, or email when any of the following events
affect an offender housed in a correctional facility or any jail in
the state:
(1) Is transferred or assigned to another facility;
(2) Is transferred to the custody of another agency outside
the state;
(3) Is given a different security classification;
(4) Is released on temporary leave or otherwise;
(5) Is discharged;
(6) Has escaped; or
(7) Has been served with a protective order that was requested
by the victim.
(b) Automatically notify a registered victim via their choices
of telephone, letter, or email, when an offender has:
(1) An upcoming court event where the victim is entitled to be
present;
(2) An upcoming parole or pardon hearing;
(3) A change in status of their parole or probation status
including:
(i) A change in their supervision status;
(ii) A change in their address.
(c) Automatically notify a registered victim via their choice of telephone, letter, or email when a sec offender has:
(1) Updated their profile information with the state sex
offender registry;
(2) Become noncompliant with the state sex offender registry.
(d) Permit a crime victim to receive the most recent status
report for an offender that is incarcerated or listed on sex
offender registry by calling the SAVIN system on a toll free
telephone number as well as by accessing the statewide automated
victim information and notification system via a public web site.
(e) All victims calling the statewide automated victim
information and notification system program will be given the
option to have live operator assistance to use the program on a
twenty-four hour, three hundred sixty-five day per year basis.
(f) Permit a crime victim to register or update the victim's
registration information for the statewide automated victim
information and notification system by calling a toll free
telephone number or accessing a public web site.
§15-13-3. Meeting of Obligations by authorities.
Participation in the statewide automated victim information
and notification system program and making offender and case data
available on a timely basis to the statewide automated victim
information and notification system program will satisfy the
Division of Corrections, county, sheriffs and prosecuting
attorneys' obligations to notify crime victims of offenders' custody status and the status of the offenders' upcoming court
events.
§15-13-4. Immunity from liability for state officials.
The Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety must
ensure that the offender information contained within the automated
victim notification system is updated frequently enough to timely
notify a crime victim that an offender has been released, has been
discharged, or has escaped. However, the failure of the automated
victim notification system to provide notice to the victim does not
establish a separate cause of action by the victim against the
state or local officials.
§15-13-5. Law-enforcement corporation.
Law-enforcement officers shall cooperate with the Department
of Military Affairs and Public Safety in establishing and
maintaining the automated victim notification system.
§15-13-6. Administration of Program.
The Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety shall
administer the automated victim notification system. The costs of
administering the system must be paid with appropriations made to
the department and from federal grants and contracts.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a system in
which crime victims are informed relative to the status of criminal
offenders from whom they have been victimized.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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