Legislature(2007 - 2008)BELTZ 211
02/27/2008 01:30 PM Senate JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB182 | |
| SB202 | |
| SB185 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 185 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 202 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 273 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| = | HB 182 | ||
SB 185-SEX OFFENDER/CHILD KIDNAPPER REGISTRATION
2:29:58 PM
CHAIR FRENCH announced the consideration of SB 185. Before the
committee was CSSB 185(STA).
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI, sponsor, described SB 185 as legislation
to keep Alaska in the forefront on the battle against sexual
predators. It requires convicted sex offenders to register their
email addresses and other electronic identifiers in addition to
their home address, which is already required. This is important
in Alaska since this state has one of the highest uses of the
Internet in the country. The concern, which is substantiated by
experts, is that there is great potential for Internet predation
by sex abusers. According to public safety officials, an
estimated 16,000 sexual predators are prowling the Internet
right now. This powerful tool would help keep track of convicted
sexual predators' activities and it will help to catch and
punish them if they do break the law. Currently only three
states require sex offenders to register their email addresses
but more than 12 have legislation in the works. SB 185 has
support from the Department of Public Safety, law enforcement
across the state, and many other groups. "This is common sense
bill that will keep our children safer," he said.
2:32:12 PM
RON TIDLER, Detective Sergeant, Anchorage Police Department
(APD) and Commander of the Alaska Internet Crimes Against
Children Task Force said the concerns he expressed in the
previous committee have been addressed in the committee
substitute (CS). On behalf of the task force, he stated support
for SB 185.
CHAIR FRENCH asked him to tell the committee about his day-to-
day job and what the Anchorage Police Department is doing with
respect to Internet sex predators.
DETECTIVE SERGEANT TIDLER explained that the task force is
composed of state and local agencies. Its mission is to fight
Internet crimes against children using a variety of tools. For
example, it's possible to identify computers that have child
pornography and knowing that makes it possible get search
warrants and administrative subpoenas on records to help
physically locate the computers. Through forensic examination of
the computers, it's possible to identify the individuals who
participate in this activity so they can be charged with
possession or distribution of child pornography. In some well-
documented cases victims have been rescued as a result of these
efforts. He said that between 40 percent and 80 percent of the
subjects involved in this activity have already had some sort of
sexual contact with a child. "We believe that any tool that is
given to us to fight this effort is going to be well worth it,"
he said.
2:35:32 PM
PAYTON MERIDETH, Detective, Fairbanks Police Department (FPD),
stated support for SB 185 as a member of the Alaska Internet
Crimes Against Children Task Force. One of his duties is to
investigate crimes related to children. Most of the cases he
works are possession and distribution of child pornography. He's
found that a number of suspects in child pornography cases are
already registered sex offenders. Regardless, after someone is
arrested on possession or distribution of child pornography,
they're required to register as a sex offender in the state of
Alaska. Because recidivism for these offenders is high, having
access to email addresses and other Internet identifiers will
aid law enforcement. FPD supports any bill that requires sex
offenders to register this electronic information. He noted that
Chief Hoffman sent a letter supporting a similar bill. The
individuals working on the Alaska ICAC Task Force and the law
enforcement officers working on this problem are very good at
what they do and the state of Alaska should be proud of them.
"They're really trying to put a dent in the problem that we have
here," he said.
2:38:06 PM
CHAIR FRENCH remarked the bill almost seems to be a cleanup
measure. It's just another way of registering a sex offender's
address.
DETECTIVE MERIDETH agreed; other electronic identifiers such as
memberships to organizations or websites will also help law
enforcement become aware of whether or not they are using that
information to again prey upon children. It's a very simple
piece of information to provide.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if these email addresses would be
available to the public because that might provide a mechanism
for sex offenders to communicate amongst themselves.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI relayed that that issue was discussed
extensively during a previous committee hearing because the
experts were very concerned about potential information sharing.
To address that concern a decision was made to establish a
publicly available database so that you could enter an email
address and find out whether or not that person is registered.
Page 3, lines 21-25 talk about administration and that the
Department of Public Safety may provide a method for
participating in a federal program so it should be free to all
states.
2:41:11 PM
KAREN FOSTER, Surviving Parents Coalition, Anchorage, said that
in honor of her daughter, who was raped and murdered, she is
dedicating her life to balancing the scales of justice and
protecting children. No one can understand the pain of losing a
child to violent death, but it does give strength and passion
that most people will never feel. Her passion is to ensure that
no other parent will have her experience as a mother and not one
more child will have to undergo rape, torture, and death.
MS. FOSTER said she was in Washington D.C. recently working on
legislation to provide funding for the ICAC Task Force. She
learned how many sexual predators there are in the U.S. and that
more than 50 percent of the child pornography in the world is
produced and distributed in this country. She described new
technology that makes it possible to identify people who are
downloading illegal child pornography, the files they are
downloading and with whom they are sharing the files. This gives
law enforcement evidence that in most cases will allow a
prosecution without a child victim having to testify. In these
cases prosecutions have had a 96 percent success rate, she said.
MS. FOSTER said this technology will provide law enforcement
with an incredible tool so that with a couple of pushes of a
button they will know if a computer contains anything illegal.
She asked for a demonstration of the new technology to look at
Alaska electronically. She learned that at that particular
moment there were 1,428 Internet communication identifiers
downloading illegal child pornography. Some of these files are
best described as unspeakable acts and the titles would offend
and horrify. We know where these people are, she said, but the
Alaska ICAC Task Force has only a few officers to track down
leads. A Department of Justice study shows that only 2 percent
of these crimes are ever investigated and 30 percent of the time
there's a child victim in the offender's home. Using the Alaska
statistic, that means that there are more than 428 Alaska
children waiting to be rescued, she said. SB 185 will help law
enforcement officers rescue victims. They should be given every
tool possible to do their job.
MS. FOSTER noted that the bill reflects no fiscal impact on the
Office of the Public Defender or the Department of Law, but she
would argue that it will actually save money. She urged the
committee to put politics aside and support the bill.
2:47:17 PM
SUSAN SULLIVAN, Executive Director, Victims for Justice, stated
support for SB 185. Requiring offenders to register their
electronic addresses and Internet identifiers will assist
investigators and help prevent Internet crimes. Also, it will
provide peace of mind to victims and their families to know that
tools are available to prevent revictimization.
CHAIR FRENCH closed public testimony.
2:48:33 PM
SENATOR THERRIAULT noted an inconsistency between the bill and
the Department of Law (DOL) fiscal note. The bill says that any
change to a an offender's electronic address must be reported by
the next day and the DOL fiscal note talks about giving notice
within five days.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI explained that initially the bill was
drafted to require notification within five days. There didn't
seem to be any reason for that since sex offenders are required
to notify the DPS within one day when they change their address.
The last committee changed the time to one day and the fiscal
note wasn't updated to reflect that change.
2:49:33 PM
ANNE CARPENETI, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division,
Department of Law, apologized that the fiscal note simply wasn't
updated. The fiscal impact wouldn't change.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if the violation for failure to register an
updated address is a misdemeanor, which is the same as failure
to register as a sex offender.
MS. CARPENETI replied generally that's correct.
CHAIR FRENCH held SB 185 for a subsequent hearing.
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