§ 40-28-503 — Policies governing attendance and use of impact statements - Standard victim notification form - Digital function to submit impact statement video

(a) The board shall establish a policy governing attendance at board hearings and submission and use of victim impact statements and other impact statements. Copies of the policy shall be available upon request. The policy must govern: (1) The requirement that those requesting notification of parole and parole revocation hearings keep the board advised of their current addresses and telephone numbers; (2) Instructions for attending and participating in parole and parole revocation hearings, including instructions for submitting an impact statement video; (3) The limitations on attendance as set forth in § 40-28-502 ; (4) Reasonable limitations on oral presentations and videos; and (5) Information about board discretion to investigate victim impact statements and other impact statements. (b) The board shall establish a standard victim notification form. The board shall distribute copies of the form to the victim witness coordinator in each judicial district for the state who shall make copies of the form available to the appropriate persons. (c) (1) The board shall establish a digital function that a victim or other impacted person may use to electronically submit an impact statement video to be considered at an inmate's parole or parole revocation hearing. The digital function must allow the victim or other impacted person to submit a video of the victim or other impacted person presenting an impact statement as otherwise permitted by this part. The board may impose reasonable restrictions regarding the length of impact statement videos. (2) The digital function must allow a victim or other impacted person to indicate whether the victim or other impacted person would like the impact statement video to be resubmitted to any future parole or parole revocation hearings involving the same inmate and offense. If the victim or other impacted person indicates that the victim or other impacted person would like the video resubmitted to any future parole or parole revocation hearings involving the same inmate and offense, then the board shall consider the video at future hearings without further request from the victim or other impacted person. Prior to consideration at a subsequent hearing, the board shall notify the victim or other impacted person, in the same manner that notice is provided pursuant to § 40-28-505(b)(4) , that the video will be considered at the hearing unless the victim or other impacted person informs the board, in writing or using the digital function, that the victim or other impacted person no longer wishes to have the video considered. A victim or other impacted person may inform the board at any time, in writing or using the digital function, that the victim or other impacted person no longer wishes to have a previously submitted video considered by the board. If a victim or other impacted person informs the board that the victim or other impacted person no longer wishes to have a previously submitted video considered by the board using the digital function, the digital function must provide the victim or other impacted person the opportunity to indicate whether the victim or other impacted person will be submitting a new impact statement video, and whether the victim or other impacted person is opposed to, in favor of, or indifferent to the granting or revoking of parole to the inmate. (3) Any impact statement video is subject to the board's policies and rules governing the privacy of board records pursuant to §§ 40-28-119 and 40-28-503 . (d) As used in this section, "victim" includes both victims and victim representatives, as those terms are defined in § 40-38-203 .

Legislative History

Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 410, Secs.s2, s3 eff. 5/12/2021. Acts 1993, ch. 336, § 3.