CHILD ABUSE OFENDERS DATABASE S.B. 289 (S-5):
SUMMARY AS PASSED BY THE SENATE
Senate Bill 289 (Substitute S-5 as passed by the Senate)
Sponsor: Senator Curtis Hertel, Jr.
Committee: Judiciary and Public Safety
CONTENT
The bill would create the "Child Abuse Offenders Database Act" (also named "Wyatt's Law") to do the following:
-- Require the Michigan Department of State Police (MSP) to maintain a computerized database of individuals convicted of child abuse offenses in the State.
-- Specify the information to be included in the database, including the individual's name, the municipality in which he or she resided, and his or her date of birth.
-- Require the MSP to maintain a public website, and specify the information to be included on the website.
-- Require the MSP to update the public website with new information at the time changes were made to the law enforcement database.
-- Require the MSP to make the law enforcement database available to a Department post, local law enforcement agency, or sheriff's department, and make the public website available to the public, by electronic, computerized, or other similar means.
-- Require the MSP to make information from the public website available to the public through electronic, computerized, or other accessible means.
-- Provide that a person other than the individual included on the database and who knew of a registration or report and who divulged or used nonpublic information concerning the registration or report would be guilty of a misdemeanor.
-- Create the Child Abuse Offenders Database Citizen's Advisory Panel within the MSP, and prescribe its members, duties, and responsibilities.
The bill would take effect 90 days after its enactment.
Definitions
"Child abuse offense" would mean any violation of Sections 136b(2), (3)(a), (5)(a), or (7)(a) of the Michigan Penal Code, or a substantially similar offense under a law of the United States, any state, or any country or under tribal or military law, that is committed by an adult or by a minor who is tried in the same manner as an adult. (Section 136b of the Penal Code defines the crimes of child abuse in the first, second, third, and fourth degree, and prescribes the penalties for each crime. The BACKGROUND section below contains more information about those offenses.)
"Convicted" would mean any of the following: a) having a judgment of conviction or a probation order entered in any court having jurisdiction over criminal offenses, including a trial court or a military court, other than a conviction set aside under Public Act 213 of 1965; b) being assigned to youthful trainee status under Chapter 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act), regardless of whether the individual's status of youthful trainee is revoked and an adjudication of guilt is entered; or c) having an order of disposition entered under the juvenile code that is open to the general public.
Law Enforcement Database
The Department of State Police would have to maintain a computerized database of individuals convicted of child abuse offenses in the State. The database would have to include the following information for each individual required to be in the database:
-- The individual's legal name and any aliases, nicknames, ethnic or tribal names, or other names by which the