Senate Bill 2480

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH AN AUTOMATED VICTIM NOTIFICATION SYSTEM; TO SPECIFY THE PARAMETERS OF OPERATION; TO REQUIRE FREQUENT UPDATES; TO REQUIRE COOPERATION ON THE PART OF LAW ENFORCEMENT; TO PROVIDE FOR THE COSTS OF OPERATING THE SYSTEM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. The Department of Public Safety shall establish a statewide automated victim information and notification (SAVIN) system that will accomplish the following:

(a) Automatically notify a registered victim via the victim's choice of telephone, letter or E-mail, when any of the following events affect an offender housed in the Department of Corrections or any county jail in the state:

(i) The offender is transferred or assigned to another facility;

(ii) The offender is transferred to the custody of another agency outside the state;

(iii) The offender is given a different security classification;

(iv) The offender is released on temporary leave or otherwise;
(v) The offender is discharged;

(vi) The offender has escaped; or

(vii) The offender has been served with a protective order that was requested by the victim.

(b) Automatically notify a registered victim via the victim's choices of telephone, letter or E-mail, when an offender has:

(i) An upcoming court event where the victim is entitled to be present;

(ii) An upcoming parole or pardon hearing;

(iii) A change in status of the offender's parole or probation status including:

1. A change in supervision status;

2. A change in address.

(c) Automatically notify a registered victim via the victim's choice of telephone, letter or E-mail when a sex offender has:

(i) Updated the registrant's profile information with the offender registry;

(ii) Become noncompliant with the sex offender registration requirements.

(d) Permit a crime victim to receive the most recent status report for an offender in the Department of Corrections, county jail or sex offender registry by calling the SAVIN system on a toll free telephone number as well as by accessing the SAVIN system via a public Web site.

(e) All victims calling the SAVIN program will be given the option to have live operator assistance to use the program on a 24-hour, 365-day per year basis.

(f) Permit a crime victim to register or update the victim's registration information for the SAVIN system by calling a toll free telephone number or accessing a public Web site.

SECTION 2. Participation in the SAVIN program and making offender and case data available on a timely basis to the SAVIN program will satisfy the obligation of the Department of Corrections, sheriff and prosecuting attorney to notify the crime victim of an offender's custody status and the status of the offender's upcoming court events.

SECTION 3. The department must ensure that the offender information contained in the automated victim notification system is updated frequently enough to timely notify a crime victim that an offender has been released, has been discharged, or has escaped. However, the failure of the automated victim notification system to provide notice to the victim does not establish a separate cause of action by the victim against the state, local officials or against the Department of Corrections.

SECTION 4. Law enforcement officers shall cooperate with the department in establishing and maintaining the automatedvictim notification system.

SECTION 5. The department shall administer the automated victim notification system. The costs of administering the system shall be paid with appropriations made to the department and from federal grants and contracts.

SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2006.