Assigned to JUD                                                                                                          AS PASSED BY THE SENATE

ARIZONA STATE SENATE

Forty-seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session

AMENDED

FACT SHEET FOR S.B. 1444

failure to register; presumptive sentence

Purpose

            Requires the courts to either impose the presumptive sentence or a life term of probation on sex offenders who fail to register, and renders those persons who received the presumptive term of imprisonment ineligible for suspended, commuted or concurrent sentences.  Allows the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to contract with a qualified vendor to develop a public records monitoring system for offenders who fail to register.

Background

            Section 13-3821, Arizona Revised Statutes, requires a person who must register as a sex offender to register within ten days after conviction or within ten days after entering or remaining in any Arizona county.  After moving from his or her residence within a county or after changing his or her name, a sex offender must inform the sheriff in person and in writing of his or her new residence, address or new name within 72 hours, excluding weekends and legal holidays (A.R.S. § 13-3822).  If the sex offender is released from prison, the Arizona Department of Corrections registers the offender before release and forwards the offender’s records to the Department of Public Safety and the sheriff of the county in which the offender intends to reside within three days of the offender’s release. 

            Any sex offender who fails to comply with these registration requirements is guilty of a class 4 felony (A.R.S. § 13-3824).  Section 13-902, Arizona Revised Statutes, allows the court to impose up to a lifetime probation term for sex offenders who fail to register.  Up to one year of that probation term may be served in a county jail (A.R.S. § 13-901).

            The fiscal impact associated with this legislation is undetermined, although making sex offenders who fail to register ineligible for suspended, commuted or concurrent sentences could increase incarceration rates.   

Provisions

1. Specifies that a sex offender who fails to register must be sentenced to:

a) imprisonment for a period no shorter than the presumptive sentence.

b) a life term of probation.

2. Renders sex offenders who fail to register, and who are sentenced to the presumptive term of imprisonment, ineligible for suspension or commutation of sentence until the sentence imposed is served.

3. Specifies that, if the presumptive term of imprisonment is given, it must run consecutively to any other sentence or undischarged term of imprisonment.

4. Allows DPS to contract with a qualified vendor to establish a data monitoring and alert system for persons who are required to register.

5. Requires the qualified vender to monitor the movement of registered sex offenders and the residence and address changes of the offenders through public records or other record information sources, and to notify DPS or other designated law enforcement agencies whenever a sex offender has potentially moved from one residence to another.

6. Becomes effective on the general effective date.

Amendments Adopted by Committee

1. Allows a judge to impose a term of probation for the failure to register as a sex offender up to and including life.

2. Allows DPS to contract for a data monitoring and alert system for persons who are required to register as sex offenders.

Amendments Adopted by Committee of the Whole

· Allows a judge to impose a life term of probation for a sex offender who fails to register.

Senate Action

JUD                 2/13/06     DPA     6-1-1

3^rd Read           3/14/06                  24-5-0

Prepared by Senate Research

March 20, 2006

JE/DL/ac