House Bill 825

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 45-33-33, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE A SEX OFFENDER WHO HAS BEEN CONVICTED AND INCARCERATED DUE TO A REGISTRATION VIOLATION SHALL BE ELECTRONICALLY MONITORED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS FOR ANY PERIOD OF SUPERVISED PROBATION, POST-RELEASE SUPERVISION OR PAROLE OF SUCH OFFENDER; TO PROVIDE THAT THE DEPARTMENT SHALL NO LONGER MONITOR THE OFFENDER FOR A PERIOD COMPUTED BY SUBTRACTING THE TIME THE OFFENDER SPENT IN ACTUAL INCARCERATION FROM THE FIVE-YEAR MAXIMUM IMPRISONMENT FOR THE REGISTRATION VIOLATION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 45-33-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

45-33-33. (1) (a) The failure of an offender to personally appear at a Department of Public Safety Driver's License Station or to provide any registration or other information, including, but not limited to, initial registration, reregistration, change of address information, change of employment, change of name, required notification to a volunteer organization or any other registration duty or submission of information required by this chapter is a violation of this chapter. Additionally, forgery of information or submission of information under false pretenses, whether by the registrant or another person, is also a violation of this chapter.

(b) A person commits a violation of this chapter who:

(i) Knowingly harbors, or knowingly attempts to harbor, or knowingly assists another person in harboring or attempting to harbor a sex offender who is in violation of this chapter; * * * or

(ii) Knowingly assists a sex offender in eluding a law enforcement agency that is seeking to find the sex offender to question the sex offender about, or to arrest the sex offender for, noncompliance with the requirements of this chapter; or

(iii) Provides information to a law enforcement agency regarding a sex offender which the person knows to be false.

(c) A registrant who is required to submit to electronic monitoring who does not comply with all the terms and conditions of the electronic monitoring commits a violation of this chapter.

(2) (a) Unless otherwise specified, a violation of this chapter shall be considered a felony and shall be punishable by a fine of not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for not more than five (5) years, or both fine and imprisonment.

(b) A person who is required to register under this chapter who is subsequently convicted for a registration violation under this section, upon release from incarceration, shall submit to mandatory electronic monitoring under the program established under Section 45-33-45 for * * *a any period * * * of supervised probation, post-release supervision or parole. This period of post-release monitoring shall not be suspended or reduced by the court or the Department of Corrections.

(3) Whenever it appears that an offender has failed to comply with the duty to register, reregister or submit to electronic monitoring, the department shall promptly notify the sheriff of the county of the last-known address of the offender as well as the sheriff of the county of the last-known location of the offender, if different. Upon notification, the sheriff shall attempt to locate the offender at his last-known address or last-known location.

(a) If the sheriff locates the offender, he shall enforce the provisions of this chapter, including initiation of prosecution if appropriate. The sheriff shall then notify the department with the current information regarding the offender.

(b) If the sheriff is unable to locate the offender, the sheriff shall promptly notify the department and initiate a criminal prosecution against the offender for the failure to register, reregister or comply with electronic monitoring. The sheriff shall make the appropriate transactions into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's wanted-person database and issue a warrant for the offender's arrest. The department shall notify the United States Marshals Service of the offender's noncompliant status and shall update the registry database and website to show the defendant's noncompliant status as an absconder.

(4) A violation of this chapter shall result in the arrest of the offender.

(5) Any prosecution for a violation of this section shall be brought by a prosecutor in the county of the violation.

(6) A person required to register under this chapter who commits any act or omission in violation of this chapter may be prosecuted for the act or omission in the county in which the act or omission was committed, the county of the last registered address of the sex offender, the county in which the conviction occurred for the offense or offenses that meet the criteria requiring the person to register, the county in which he was designated a sex offender, or the county in which the sex offender was found.

(7) The Commissioner of Public Safety or his authorized agent shall suspend the driver's license or driving privilege of any offender failing to comply with the duty to report, register or reregister, submit to monitoring, or who has provided false information.

(8) When a person required to register under this chapter is accused of any registration offense under this section, pretrial release on bond shall be conditioned on the offender's submission to electronic monitoring under the program established under Section 45-33-45.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2017.