Title 11
Criminal Offenses

Chapter 37.1
Sexual Offender Registration and Community Notification

§ 11-37.1-6. Community notification.

(1)(a) Sex Offender Board of Review.  The governor shall appoint eight (8) persons including experts in the field of the behavior and treatment of sexual offenders by reason of training and experience, victim’s rights advocates, and law enforcement representatives to the sex offender board of review. At least one member of the sex offender board of review shall be a qualified child/adolescent sex offender treatment specialist. These persons shall serve at the pleasure of the governor or until their successor has been duly qualified and appointed.

(b) Duties of the board.  Upon passage of this legislation, the sex offender board of review will utilize a validated risk assessment instrument where available and other material approved by the parole board to determine the level of risk an offender poses to the community and to assist the sentencing court in determining if that person is a sexually violent predator. If the offender is a juvenile, the Department of Children, Youth and Families shall select and administer a risk instrument appropriate for juveniles and shall submit the results to the sex offender board of review. In cases where an accepted validated risk assessment instrument does not exist, the sex offender board of review shall use a structured professional judgment (SPJ) approach, in which the board shall evaluate the presence or absence of commonly employed risk variables (both static and dynamic), together with all other information available to the board, to make a determination concerning the level of risk.

(c) Duties of other state agencies.  Six (6) months prior to release of any person having a duty to register under § 11-37.1-3, or upon sentencing of a person having a duty to register under § 11-37.1-3, if the offender is not incarcerated, the agency having supervisory responsibility and the Interstate Compact Unit of the Rhode Island department of corrections upon acceptance of supervision of a sexual offender from the sending jurisdiction shall refer the person to the sex offender board of review, together with any reports and documentation that may be helpful to the board, for a determination as to the level of risk an offender poses to the community and to assist the sentencing court in determining if that person is a sexually violent predator.

(2)(i) The board shall within thirty (30) days of a referral of a person shall conduct the validated risk assessment, review other material provided by the agency having supervisory responsibility and assign a risk of re-offense level to the offender. In addition, the board may find that, based on the assessment score and other material, that the person may possess a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in sexually violent predatory offenses. In these cases, the committee shall ask the parole board psychiatrist or if the offender is a juvenile, a DCYF psychiatrist to conduct a sex offender evaluation to determine if the offender possesses a mental abnormality or personality disorder that affects the emotional or volitional capacity of the person in a manner that predisposes that person to the commission of criminal sexual acts to a degree that makes the person a menace to the health and safety of other persons.

(ii) Upon receipt of a sex offender evaluation that suggests there is sufficient evidence and documentation to suggest that a person may be a sexually violent predator, the sex offender board of review shall forward a report to the attorney general for consideration by the court.

(iii) Upon receipt of a report from the attorney general, the court, after notice to the offender and his or her counsel, shall upon consideration of the report and other materials, make a determination as to whether or not a person is a sexually violent predator.

(iv) Effect of determination.  In the event that a determination is made by the court that a person is a sexually violent predator, that person shall be required to register and verify his or her address in accordance with §§ 11-37.1-3, 11-37.1-4, and 11-37.1-8(b).

(3) No cause of action or liability shall arise or exist against the committee or any member or agent of the board as a result of the failure of the board to make any findings required by this section within the time period specified by subsection (2) of this section.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the board shall have access to all relevant records and information in the possession of any state official or agency having a duty under § 11-37.1-5(a)(1) through (6), relating to the juvenile and adult offenders under review by the board, including, but not limited to, police reports; prosecutor’s statements of probable cause, presentence investigations and reports, complete judgments and sentences, current classification referrals, juvenile and adult criminal history records, violation and disciplinary reports, all psychological evaluations and psychiatric evaluations, psychiatric hospital records, sex offender evaluations and treatment reports, substance abuse evaluations and treatment reports to the extent allowed by federal law. Records and information obtained by the board of review under this subsection shall remain confidential, provided that the board of review may disclose the records and information to the sentencing court in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

(5) Duties of the director of the department of corrections/director of the department of children, youth and families.  Not less than sixty (60) days prior to release of any person subject to this chapter, the director of the department of corrections or, in the event the person is a juvenile, the director of the department of children, youth and families, or their respective designees, shall seek verification that the duties of the sex offender board of review and any other state agency have been fulfilled as specified in § 11-37.1-6 et seq. In the event that the director of the department of corrections or, in the event the person is a juvenile, the director of the department of children, youth and families, cannot obtain verification, he or she shall, no less than thirty (30) days prior to the release of a person subject to this chapter, file with the presiding judge of the superior court or, in the case of a juvenile, the chief judge of the family court, a petition in the nature of mandamus, seeking compliance with this chapter. The court shall promptly, but no less than ten (10) days from the filing of the petition, hold a hearing on the petition. The court may, in its discretion, enter any orders consistent with this chapter to compel compliance, however, the court may not delay the release of any person subject to this chapter for the failure of the sex offender board of review or any state agency to fulfill its obligations under this chapter.