The purpose of this bill would have been to revise Georgia sex offender laws to promote the isolation of dangerous sexual predators from the public and ensure that they are adequately monitored in a manner that is constitutional. The key focus of the bill would have been to ensure the law properly directs resources towards protecting society from the sexual offenders who pose the greatest threat to others by truly isolating the dangerous sexual predator. The bill sought to narrow some of the previous statutory reporting requirements for sexual offenders that were implemented in 2008, after the Georgia legislature passed SB 1, which prohibited offenders from residing, working, or volunteering within 1000 feet of any child care facility, church, school, or area where minors congregate. The only offenders exempted from these requirements were sexual offenders who could offer sufficient proof of employment or residency established before July 1, 2006. SB 157 aimed to lessen some of these requirements by providing for certain exceptions. Specifically, the bill would have narrowed the restrictions on volunteer activities, permitting registered sexual offenders to volunteer in activities limited to persons who are eighteen years or older and activities involving worship services or religious activities, provided such activities do not involve supervising, teaching, directing minors, or otherwise participating with minors in an unsupervised environment. The bill also would have given superior courts the power to release an individual from the residency requirements if the court finds that the individual does not pose a substantial risk of recidivism, and the offender either resides in a nursing home, is totally or permanently disabled, or is seriously physically incapacitated due to illness or injury. The bill would have exempted private, unlicensed, in-home day care for the purposes of the residence, employment, and volunteer restrictions. The bill also would have given homeless offenders who can provide no residence address specific direction as to how to comply with the statutory requirements. Homeless sexual offenders would have been allowed to provide the place where they sleep as an address. The bill would have required homeless offenders to report weekly to the sheriff’s office in the county in which they reside. SB 157 would have added a new code section, 17-10-6.4, to give the sentencing court discretion to classify a sexual offender according to the likelihood the offender will commit another crime against a minor or engage in another dangerous sexual offense. The bill would have provided for the offender to be categorized according to a Level I risk, Level II risk, or “Sexually dangerous predator” based on a review of a risk assessment profile and any evidence introduced by the prosecution or defense. The bill would have further provided that the information considered by the sentencing court would become a matter of public record. The bill also would have provided for specific appeal guidelines pursuant to the risk assessment classification or category assigned to each offender. SB 157 would have also made the kidnapping or false imprisonment of a minor a sexual offense only when the offense involved conduct of a sexual nature. The bill also would have revised various punishment requirements under the affected sections. Specifically, it would have amended Code section 42- 1-12(n) by eliminating a mandatory punishment of imprisonment for life upon a conviction of a second offense for failing to comply with the registration requirements.
