The Flint Hills Observer
April 1997

More on SB 291, the "Kansas Crimes Against Children and Sex Offender Registration Act"
Note: This information was obtained from The Supplemental Note On Senate Bill No. 291, found at: http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/supplement/supp-bybill.cgi?billnum=291 Keep in mind that Kansas lesbigays were almost included in this legislation!!!

Brief
SB 291 renames the "Kansas Sex Offender Registration Act," K.S.A. 22-4901 et seq., the "Kansas Crimes Against Children and Sex Offender Registration Act," and amends the law in several significant ways. The bill: expands the number of crimes for which registration is applicable; places a duty upon the sentencing court or prison officials to affirmatively collect registrant information; requires address verification checks to be conducted by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation every 90 days; and expands registrant information to include documentation of any treatment received for a mental abnormality or personality disorder.

The bill also: places a mandatory ten-year registration requirement on all enumerated first offenders and a lifetime duty on all second and subsequent offenders; places a duty upon a person convicted of a second or subsequent sexually violent offense to show that he/she has been rehabilitated and does not suffer from a mental abnormality or personality disorder that would make him/her likely to engage in a predatory sexually violent crime in order to be relieved from the duty to register after ten years; and calls for a board of experts in the behavior and treatment of sexual offenders to assist in the above determination and requires the Attorney General to promulgate rules and regulations pertaining to the board.

The bill requires the sentencing court, rather than the court where the offender currently resides, to entertain any relief applications; and allows for the confidentiality of victim information.

The bill adds a new definition of offender to include:

1. a person convicted of the following crimes against children: kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, criminal restraint, or similar crimes as noted above as well as the solicitation, attempt, or conspiracy to commit such crimes;

2. a violent offender who has been convicted of one of the following crimes: capital murder, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter as well as a similar offense from another state or federal jurisdiction, and an attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit one of the above crimes; and

3. a sexually violent crime which definition is expanded to add criminal sodomy, promoting prostitution, patronizing a prostitute, sexual battery, and aggravated incest.

The Kansas Open Records Act is amended to prohibit disclosure of the name, address, telephone number, or other identifying information of a victim of a crime for which the offender is required to register under this Act.

Background
S.B. 291, as introduced, represented the changes recommended by the Attorney General to bring Kansas law into compliance with mandates on states imposed by the federal Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Predatory Act, 42 U.S.C. 14071. On April 4, 1996, the United States Department of Justice issued final rules and regulations for the implementation of this law. The Wetterling Act mandates the establishment of state registration systems for certain enumerated offenders by September 13, 1997. States that have failed to achieve compliance with the federal rules and regulations by that time risk a possible 10 percent reduction in their federal Byrne Grant funding which would result in a loss of approximately $400,000 for the State of Kansas.

The Senate Committee amended into S.B. 291 the provisions of S.B. 311. S.B. 311 is a product of the Attorney General s C.A.M.P.U.S. Task Force. It expands the Kansas Sex Offender Registration Act, K.S.A. 22-4901 et seq., to require the registration of those convicted of capital murder, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter. The Task Force believes that awareness is an essential tool in addressing public safety concerns. To the extent that the public is aware of offenders living within their communities, they are able to take the measures needed to increase their personal safety. Registration also provides law enforcement officers with a current data base reflecting the criminal history, identification, and present location of known criminals within their communities.