§ 15-20A-19 — Adult Sex Offender - Sexually Violent Predator

(a) The state, upon conviction and prior to sentencing, may petition the sentencing court to enter an order declaring a person convicted in this state of a sexually violent or predatory offense as a sexually violent predator.
(b) At sentencing, a court may declare a person to be a sexually violent predator. For the purposes of this section, a person is a sexually violent predator if either of the following applies:
(1) The person is a repeat sexually violent offender.
(2) The person commits a sexually violent offense and is likely to engage in one or more sexually violent offenses in the future.
(c) A person is a repeat sexually violent offender for the purposes of this section if the person is convicted of more than one sexually violent offense.
(d) For the purposes of this section, a sexually violent offense is any of the following:
(1) A sex offense committed by forcible compulsion, violence, duress, menace, fear of immediate bodily injury to the victim or another person, or threatening to retaliate in the future against the victim or any other person.
(2) A sex offense involving a child.
(3) Any sex offense involving the enticement or solicitation of a minor for sexual purposes.
(4) Any sex offense that is predatory in nature.
(5) Any solicitation, attempt, or conspiracy to commit any of the offenses listed in subdivisions (1) to (4), inclusive.
(6) Any other offense for which the court makes a specific finding on the record that, based on the circumstances of the case, the person’s offense should be considered a sexually violent offense.
(e) Any of the following factors may be considered as evidence tending to indicate that there is a likelihood that the person will engage in the future in one or more sexually violent offenses:
(1) The person has been convicted two or more times, in separate criminal actions, of a sexually violent offense. For purposes of this subdivision, convictions that result from or are connected with the same act or result from offenses committed at the same time are one conviction.
(2) The person has been convicted of a sexually violent offense involving two or more victims regardless of when the acts or convictions occurred.
(3) Available information or evidence suggests that the person chronically commits offenses with a sexual motivation.
(4) The person has committed one or more offenses in which the person has tortured or engaged in ritualistic acts with one or more victims.
(5) The person has committed one or more sex offenses in which one or more victims were physically harmed to the degree that the particular victim’s life was in jeopardy.
(6) Any other evidence deemed relevant by the court.
(f) If the state so petitions, it shall present clear and convincing evidence that the sex offender is likely to engage in one or more future sexually violent offenses or is likely to engage in future predatory sex offenses.
(g) Any sex offender determined in any other state to be a sexually violent predator shall be considered a sexually violent predator in this state.
(h) A sexually violent predator, as a condition of the sex offender’s release from incarceration, shall be subject to electronic monitoring and be required to pay the costs of such monitoring, as set forth in Section 15-20A-20, for a period of no less than 10 years from the date of the sexually violent predator’s release. This requirement shall be imposed by the sentencing court as a part of the sexually violent predator’s sentence, as provided in subsection (c) of Section 13A-5-6 and Section 15-20A-20.

Legislative History

(Act 2011-640, p. 1569, §19.)