Senate Bill No. 423
(By Senators Jones, Plymale, Holliday and Anderson)
____________
[Introduced March 19, 1993; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
____________
A BILL to amend article four, chapter seven of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
by adding thereto a new section, designated section four; to
amend article two, chapter fifteen of said code by adding
thereto two new sections, designated sections twenty-four-a
and twenty-four-b; and to amend chapter sixty-one of said
code by adding thereto a new article, designated article
eight-f, all relating to requiring county prosecuting
attorneys and the attorney general to collect and report
child sexual abuse data; requiring blood sampling for DNA
law enforcement identification purposes; establishing a
centralized database for DNA identification records;
criminal penalties; crime and punishment; sex offender
registry act; definitions; registration with clerk of
circuit court; period of registration; and sharing
information with other law-enforcement agencies.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article four, chapter seven of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section four;
that article two, chapter fifteen of said code be amended by
adding thereto two new sections, designated sections twenty-four-
a and twenty-four-b; and that chapter sixty-one of said code be
amended by adding thereto a new article, designated article
eight-f, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 7. TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR COUNTY EMPLOYEES, ETC.;
COMPENSATION OF ELECTED COUNTY OFFICIALS; COUNTY ASSISTANTS,
DEPUTIES AND EMPLOYEES, THEIR NUMBER AND COMPENSATION.
ARTICLE 4. PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, REWARDS AND LEGAL ADVICE.
§7-4-4. Collection of child sexual abuse data by prosecutors.
(a) The attorney general and the prosecuting attorney of
each county shall keep records on all cases alleging child sexual
abuse identified in reports from human resources from local law-
enforcement agencies and from the division of public safety.
Information that shall be collected includes the following items:
(1) Name of the victim;
(2) Date of report received;
(3) County of occurrence;
(4) Charges, if any;
(5) Brief explanation if not charged;
(6) Grand Jury action including naming of offenses;
(7) Disposition of case including plea, and trial;
(8) Sentence, if convicted or plead.
(b) The information shall be provided by the prosecuting
attorney at the end of each quarter of the calendar year to the
attorney general who shall compile this data by county and issue
a public, quarterly report and an annual report.
(c) The public report shall not contain the name or
identifying information of a victim or person not formally
charged with the commission of child sexual abuse. Information
in the hands of the prosecuting attorney or the attorney general
containing data which cannot be published shall be excluded from
inspection, unless by court order.
CHAPTER 15. PUBLIC SAFETY.
ARTICLE 2. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY.
§15-2-24a. DNA law enforcement identification.
(a) Any person convicted on or after the effective date of
this section for a felony offense, or who is in the custody of
the division of corrections on the effective date of this
section, shall have a sample of blood taken by the division of
corrections for DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) law enforcement
identification purposes and inclusion in law enforcement
identification databases prior to release.
(b) The samples shall be obtained in a medically approved
manner by a physician, registered nurse, phlebotomist, medical
technician or medical technologist, and packaged and submitted in
containers provided by the division of public safety forensic
laboratory in accordance with administrative rules promulgated by
the superintendent of the division of public safety for thecriminal identification bureau forensic laboratory. No person
authorized to draw blood as provided by this section may be
liable for civil damages as a result of the act of drawing blood
from any person: Provided, That the blood was drawn according to
generally accepted medical procedures.
(c) Any person who, without lawful authority, tampers or
attempts to tamper with any sample of blood or the container
collected pursuant to subsection (a) or (b) of this section is
guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined
not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned in the
penitentiary not less than one year, or both fined and
imprisoned.
§15-2-24b. Establishment of centralized database of DNA
identification records in division of public safety.
(a) A centralized database of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
identification records for convicted criminals, crime scene
specimens, missing persons, and close biological relatives of
missing persons shall be established in the division of public
safety under the direction, control and supervision of the
division of public safety criminal identification bureau forensic
laboratory. The established system shall be compatible with the
procedures set forth in a national DNA identification index to
ensure data exchange on a national level.
(b) The purpose of the centralized DNA database is to assist
federal, state and local criminal justice and law-enforcement
agencies within and outside the state in the identification,detection or exclusion of individuals who are subjects of the
investigation or prosecution of sex-related crimes, violent
crimes or other crimes and the identification and location of
missing and unidentified persons.
(c) The forensic laboratory shall receive, analyze and
classify samples of blood received from the division of
corrections in compliance with subsections (a) and (b) of this
section, and samples from other sources, and shall file the DNA
results in the centralized databases for identification and
statistical purposes.
(d) Records produced from the samples shall be used only for
law enforcement purposes.
(e) A person whose DNA profile has been included in the data
bank pursuant to this section may request expungement on the
grounds that the felony conviction on which the authority for
including the DNA profile was based, has been reversed and the
case dismissed. The division of public safety shall expunge all
identifiable information in the data bank pertaining to the
person and destroy all samples from the person upon receipt of:
(1) A written request for expungement pursuant to this
section; and
(2) A certified copy of the court order reversing and
dismissing the conviction.
(f) The superintendent of the division of public safety
shall promulgate administrative rules necessary to carry out the
provisions of the DNA database identification system to includeprocedures for collection of samples of blood and the database
system usage and integrity.
(g) Any person who disseminates, receives or otherwise uses
or attempts to use information in the database, knowing that such
dissemination, receipt, or use is for a purpose other than
authorized by law, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars
nor more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the county
jail not more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned.
CHAPTER 61. CRIMES AND THEIR PUNISHMENT.
ARTICLE 8F. SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION ACT.
§61-8F-1. Short title.
This article may be cited as the "Sex Offender Registration
Act."
§61-8F-2. Definitions.
As used in this article:
(a) "Law-enforcement agency" means any lawfully organized
investigative agency, police unit or police force of federal,
state, county or municipal government or a combination of these
who are responsible for the detection of crime and the
enforcement of the general criminal federal or state laws.
(b) "Sex crime" means a conviction or plea of guilty for a
felony offense defined in article eight-b of this chapter or
similar offenses in another jurisdiction.
(c) "Sex offender information" means the name, social
security number, age, race, sex, date of birth, height, weight,hair and eye color, aliases used, residence, vehicle registration
data, a brief description of the crime or crimes committed along
with any other information the commissioner of the division of
corrections determines, by administrative rules, may be useful in
the identification of sex offenders.
§61-8F-3. Registration with clerk of circuit court.
(a) Any person eighteen years of age or older at the time of
the offense who, since the first day of January, one thousand
nine hundred ninety-three, has been released on probation or
conditionally discharged by the court or paroled from a penal
institution for committing or attempting to commit a sex crime as
defined in section two of this article, shall within thirty days
after the effective date of this article or within fourteen days
of coming into any county or city in which he intends to reside,
register with the clerk of the circuit clerk of that county.
(b) Any person who, after the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-three, is discharged or paroled from
a jail, prison or other institution where he was confined because
of the commission or attempt to commit a sex crime as defined in
section two of this article, shall prior to discharge, parole or
release, be informed of his duty to register under this section
by the official in charge of the place of confinement. The
official shall require the person to read and sign any form that
may be required by the commissioner of the division of
corrections stating that the duty of the person to register under
this section has been explained to the person. The official incharge of the place of confinement shall cause the releasee to
complete the registration form and the official shall then
forward the form to the information services center, division of
public safety, South Charleston, West Virginia.
(c) Any person who after the first day of July, one thousand
nine hundred ninety-three, has plead guilty or been convicted in
this state of the commission to attempt to commit a sex crime as
defined in this article and who is released on probation or
conditionally discharged, shall, prior to release or discharge,
be informed of the duty to register with the office of the
circuit clerk by the court in which the person has been
convicted. The court shall require the person to read and sign
any form that may be required by the commissioner of the division
of corrections, stating that the duty of the person to register
under this section has been explained to him and order that he
register with the office of the circuit clerk. Upon completion
of the registration form, the circuit clerk shall forward the
form to the information services center, division of public
safety, South Charleston, West Virginia.
(d) Any person who after the first day of July, one thousand
nine hundred ninety-three, has plead guilty or been convicted in
another state of the commission or attempt to commit a sex crime
as defined in section two of this article and who remains under
active probation or parole supervision at the time of his
relocation to West Virginia, shall be informed of the duty to
register under this section by the interstate compact officer ofthe division of corrections. The officer shall require the
person to read and sign any form that may be required by the
commissioner of the division of corrections, stating that the
duty of the person to register under this section has been
explained to him or her. The officer shall cause the person to
complete the registration form and the officer shall then forward
the form to the information services center, division of public
safety, South Charleston, West Virginia.
(e) The registration form shall consist of a statement in
writing signed by the person which shall include sex offender
information as defined in section two of this article.
(f) If any registrant changes his residence address, the
person shall register within ten days, with the office of the
circuit clerk in the county in which he last registered. The
circuit clerk shall forward this information to the information
services center, division of public safety, South Charleston,
West Virginia.
(g) Any person required to register under this section who
violates any of the provisions thereof is guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or
imprisoned in the county jail not more than one year, or both
fined and imprisoned.
(h) Anyone required to register under this section who
knowingly provides false, misleading or incomplete information is
guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall befined not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred
dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not more than one year,
or both fined and imprisoned.
(i) When any person is released on parole or probation and
is required to register under this section but fails to do so
within the time period prescribed, this shall constitute grounds
for revocation.
(j) The statements required by subsection (e) of this
section shall not be open to inspection by the public and only be
accessible to law-enforcement agencies as defined in section two
of this article.
§61-8F-4. Period of registration.
Persons required to register pursuant to the provisions of
section three of this article shall remain registered for a
period of ten years following their release from confinement or
ten years following their expiration date on probation, shock
probation, conditional discharge, parole or other form of early
release.
§61-8F-5. Information may be shared with other law-enforcement
agencies.
The commissioner of the division of corrections may share
information gathered pursuant to section three of this article
with federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies in this
state and other states in the course of their official duties.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require countyprosecuting attorneys and the attorney general to keep records of
child sexual data; to require persons convicted of felony sexual
offense charges and other crimes to have blood samples taken for
DNA identification purposes; to establish a centralized database
of DNA identification records for convicted criminals, etc. to be
controlled and supervised by the Division of Public Safety (State
Police); and providing a procedure for the registration of sex
offenders with the clerks of circuit courts in the state.
§7-4-4, §§15-2-24a and 24b and Chapter 61, Article 8F are
new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been
omitted.