Introduced By: Representatives McNamara, Reilly, Giannini and Garvey
Date Introduced : January 14, 1999
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 13-8-6 of the General Laws in Chapter 13-8 entitled "Parole" is hereby amended to read as follows:
13-8-6. Duties of executive secretary -- Case folders. -- (a) The duties of the executive secretary shall include the following:
(1) To administer the office of the parole board;
(2) To supervise the collection of data for each applicant for parole;
(3) To summarize collected data and prepare a folder on each applicant for parole, including the summary of the information collected from the above sources, or any other sources which are deemed appropriate, together with the original supporting documents, and all communications addressed to the board and its members concerning the applicant for parole;
(4) To maintain, in the folder of each applicant, the report of the board provided for in section 13-8-23;
(5) To arrange for each meeting of the board;
(6) To prepare all reports required of the board;
(7) To send to the state police a list of all persons, including their date of birth and last known address prior to incarceration, lead offenses, and the name of the police department which prosecuted the person, whose application for parole is to be considered by the board, not less than six (6) weeks prior to the meeting to consider the applications, in order that the state police can provide the information to all local police departments by teletype, so that the state police and the local police departments may return any comment deemed appropriate at least two (2) weeks prior to the scheduled meeting; {ADD and to make a reasonable effort to notify the victim of the crime committed by the prisoner, or, in homicide cases, the victim's next of kin, and/or, in cases where the victim is a minor, the victim's parent and/or legal guardian, not less than thirty (30) days prior to the meeting, of his or her right to provide a victim impact statement to the board; ADD}
{ADD For the purposes of this subdivision of this section the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings: ADD}
{ADD (i) "Victim" means an individual who has suffered direct or threatened physical, emotional, or financial harm as the result of the commission of a crime or an immediate family member of a minor or a homicide victim. ADD}
{ADD (ii) "Victim impact statement" means a statement providing information about the financial, emotional, and physical effects of a crime on the victim and the victim's family, and specific information about the victim, the circumstances surrounding the crime, and the manner in which it was perpetrated. ADD}
(8) To furnish the attorney general, the state police, and the local police departments set forth in section 13-8-9.1 with a photograph (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) of each prisoner released, taken at the time of his or her release on parole;
(9) To notify the police department of the town or city in which the prisoner resided before sentence and the police department of the city or town in which he or she is to reside, at least five (5) days prior to the release of any prisoner on parole, of the release;
(10) To have published in a newspaper of general circulation, once a month, the names of the persons whose applications for parole are to be considered within the upcoming month and the hearing date or dates thereof;
(11) To prepare a list of all individuals released by the board;
(12) To maintain that list in the permanent files of the office of the board, which list shall be a public record;
(13) To confer with the director of corrections on all matters relating to the activities of the board; and
(14) To perform related duties as required.
(b) Case folders shall be made available to each member of the board not less than a week prior to its meeting to interview applicants for parole and shall be maintained in the permanent files of the board.
SECTION 2. Section 12-28-6 of the General Laws in Chapter 12-28 entitled "Victim's Rights" is hereby amended to read as follows:
12-28-6. Right to address parole board. -- (a) Prior
to acting upon the petition or any continuance thereof of an inmate
at the adult correctional institution or the women's reformatory,
the parole board shall notify the victim, if he or she is identified
and his or her residence is known, of the criminal conduct for
which the inmate has been incarcerated of the pendency of the
proceedings before the board. The victim shall upon request be
afforded the opportunity to address the board regarding the impact
of the crime upon the victim {DEL . DEL} {ADD ; ADD}
{ADD Provided, that the board may, in its discretion, permit the parent and/or legal guardian of a victim who is a minor at the time of the hearing to address the board on behalf of said minor. ADD}
(b) Should the parole board be unable to locate the victim, the board shall seek the assistance of the local police department of the city or town where the victim was last known to have resided. The police department shall make every effort to locate the victim and shall, no later than thirty (30) days from the date its assistance was sought, send a written report to the parole board detailing its efforts to locate said victim.
(c) Whenever the parole board shall seek the assistance of any police department in locating a victim, the board shall not act upon the inmate's petition until it has reviewed the written report from the assisting police department.
(d) For the purposes of this section, a "victim" is one who has sustained personal injury or loss of property directly attributable to the criminal conduct for which the inmate has been incarcerated. In homicide cases, a member of the immediate family of the victim shall be afforded the right created by this section.
{ADD (e) The board shall also make a reasonable effort to notify the victim of the crime committed by the prisoner, or , in homicide cases, the victim's next of kin, and/or, in cases where the victim is a minor, the victim's parent and/or legal guardian, not less than thirty (30) days prior to the meeting, of his or her right to provide a victim impact statement to the board. ADD}
{ADD As used herein, the term "Victim Impact Statement" shall mean a statement providing information about the financial, emotional, and physical effects of a crime on the victim and the victim's family, and specific information about the victim, the circumstances surrounding the crime, and the manner in which it was perpetrated. ADD}
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.
