S.13 As Passed by Senate and the House
An Act Relating to Improving Vermont’s Sexual Abuse Response System
Statement of purpose:
*** Prevention ***
Sections 2-15
Task the appropriate legislative committees with developing a comprehensive statewide approach to the prevention of child sexual abuse;
Include a sexual abuse prevention component in all school health curricula;
Conduct outreach efforts to raise awareness of families and communities about child sexual abuse;
Require the commissioner of education to check the child protection registry and vulnerable adult abuse, neglect, and exploitation registry prior to issuing a new license, renewing a license, or reinstating a lapsed license for a professional educator;
Require school districts to check the child protection registry and vulnerable adult abuse, neglect, and exploitation registry prior to hiring staff and to conduct periodic rechecks of the registries and criminal history records;
Require school boards to check the names of volunteers and work-study students against the Vermont Internet sex offender registry, and prohibit such registrants from serving as volunteers or work-study students;
Permit criminal record checks and registry checks to be done through a subscription service with the Vermont criminal information center;
Require school boards to ensure that all school employees receive orientation on the prevention, identification, and reporting of child abuse, and that parents and caregivers receive information and education about child sexual abuse;
Require that licensed child care facilities ensure that all employees receive orientation on the prevention, identification, and reporting of child abuse;
Formally establish the center for the prevention and treatment of sexual abuse and its mission;
Require registered sex offenders to report whether they are living in a household with a child under the age of 16;
*** Investigation and Prosecution ***
Sections 16-29
Fund and staff special investigation units fully and place responsibility for sex offender registry compliance with the units;
Require participation by the department of corrections in child protection response teams and special investigation units;
Upon passage of the act, require collection of DNA from any person convicted for a misdemeanor domestic violence or a misdemeanor sex offense for which registration as a sex offender is required;
As of July 1, 2011, require collection of DNA from any person arraigned for a felony offense;
Eliminate the right to take pretrial depositions of child victims in sexual abuse cases;
Amend the age requirement for admissibility of prior statements of child victims to 12 years of age at the time the statements were made, instead of 10 years of age at the time of trial;
Amend the evidentiary requirements for human services board substantiation proceedings to minimize the impact on child witnesses;
*** Sentencing ***
Sections 13, 30-37
Create a new crime of sexual exploitation of a minor;
Establish a new crime of aggravated sexual assault of a child with a mandatory 25 year to life sentence;
Clarify that the general assembly did not adopt the common law definition of consent and did previously enact legislation to ensure that teenagers who engaged in consensual sexual acts would not be criminally liable, or would at least not be subject to high mandatory minimum sentences;
Eliminate the option of a deferred sentence for a person charged with an offense involving sexual abuse of a child;
Establish an index for deferred sentences and permit the department of corrections access for the purpose of preparing a presentence report for the sentencing court for most sex offenses;
Mandate presentence reports for most sex offenses and add new crimes for which the reports are required;
Permit information from the child protection registry and the vulnerable adult abuse, neglect, and exploitation registry to be used for the purpose of preparing a presentence report;
Permit the department for children and families access to presentence investigations;
Permit a sentencing court access to its sealed juvenile records of a person convicted of a sexual offense;
Permit the department of corrections access to any sealed juvenile records of a person convicted of a sexual offense for the purpose of developing a presentence report or supervising the person;
*** Corrections and Supervision ***
Sections 38-48
Require courts to review and amend conditions of probation for sex offenders as appropriate when a split sentence is imposed;
Permit periodic polygraph examinations and supervision of computer activities as special conditions of probation;
Require a judicial hearing prior to discharging a sex offender from probation;
Establish a systems approach of community supervision of sex offenders and assign specialized probation officers to work only with sex offenders;
Require an independent review of probation and parole caseloads as they relate to supervision of sex offenders;
Require high-risk sex offenders to serve at least 70 percent of their maximum sentence;
Add all agency of human services, employees who have contact with clients to the list of mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse or neglect;
Mandate a prehearing detention for sex offenders who violate risk-related conditions of probation or parole;
*** Systemwide ***
Sections 49-52a
Establish an independent audit of the state sexual abuse response system;
Fully comply with federal law that requires the department for children and families to release information to the public about child fatalities to include release of information about “near fatalities”;
Urge local communities not to enact sex offender residency restrictions and request that the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, Inc. work with communities to ensure they are receiving accurate information about the potential pitfalls of such laws and to encourage communities to focus on prevention and other strategies to improve public safety; and
Require the department of corrections to report to the general assembly on:
• protocols for permitting a sex offender to live in a home with children and plans to notify the department for children and families;
• criteria and centralized review or release recommendations made by the department with respect to sex offenders;
• a plan to improve training and oversight of department employees who work with sex offenders; and
• an update on the implementation of this act.
