Pennsylvania § 9799.51 - Legislative findings and declaration of policy.

§ 9799.51. Legislative findings and declaration of policy.

(a) Legislative findings.--It is hereby determined and declared as a matter of legislative finding:

(1) If the public is provided adequate notice and information about sexually violent predators and offenders as well as those sexually violent predators and offenders who do not have a fixed place of habitation or abode, the community can develop constructive plans to prepare itself for the release of sexually violent predators and offenders. This allows communities to meet with law enforcement to prepare and obtain information about the rights and responsibilities of the community and to provide education and counseling to their children.

(2) These sexually violent predators and offenders pose a high risk of engaging in further offenses even after being released from incarceration or commitments, and protection of the public from this type of offender is a paramount governmental interest.

(3) The penal and mental health components of our justice system are largely hidden from public view, and lack of information from either may result in failure of both systems to meet this paramount concern of public safety.

(4) Overly restrictive confidentiality and liability laws governing the release of information about sexually violent predators and offenders have reduced the willingness to release information that could be appropriately released under the public disclosure laws and have increased risks to public safety.

(5) Persons found to have committed a sexual offense have a reduced expectation of privacy because of the public's interest in public safety and in the effective operation of government.

(6) Release of information about sexually violent predators and offenders to public agencies and the general public will further the governmental interests of public safety and public scrutiny of the criminal and mental health systems so long as the information released is rationally related to the furtherance of those goals.

(b) Declaration of policy.--It is hereby declared to be the intention of the General Assembly to:

(1) Protect the safety and general welfare of the people of this Commonwealth by providing for registration, community notification and access to information regarding sexually violent predators and offenders who are about to be released from custody and will live in or near their neighborhood.

(2) Require the exchange of relevant information about sexually violent predators and offenders among public agencies and officials and to authorize the release of necessary and relevant information about sexually violent predators and offenders to members of the general public, including information available through the publicly accessible Internet website of the Pennsylvania State Police, as a means of assuring public protection and shall not be construed as punitive.

(3) Address the Superior Court's opinion in the case of Commonwealth v. Wilgus, 975 A.2d 1183 (2009), by requiring sexually violent predators and offenders without a fixed place of habitation or abode to register under this subchapter.

(4) Address the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision in Commonwealth v. Muniz, No. 47 MAP 2016 (Pa. 2016), and the Pennsylvania Superior Court's decision in Commonwealth v. Butler, 173 A.3d 1212 (Pa. Super. 2017).

(June 12, 2018, P.L.140, No.29, eff. imd.)

2018 Amendment. Act 29 reenacted section 9799.51.

References in Text. The citation, Commonwealth v. Butler, 173 A.3d 1212 (Pa. Super. 2017), referred to in subsec. (b)(4), was incorrectly cited as Commonwealth v. Butler (2017 WL 3882445) in Acts 10 and 29 of 2018. The 2018 Pamphlet Law Volume contains the correct Westlaw citation, (2017 4914155).