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Home My WebLink AboutRES 208 Draft 01 2002-2004 COUNTY OF HAWAII STATE OF HAWAII RESOLUTION NO. 20~ 0~ RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, PURSUANT TO HRS 46-7, FOR THE SEX OFFENDER PUBLICATION AND TRACKING PROGRAM GRANT WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii Department of the Attorney General's Crime Prevention & Justice Assistance Division has authorized funding to the Hawaii Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for the Sex Offender Publication and Tracking Program; and WHEREAS, these funds, derived from Hawai'i's FY 2002 Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Formula Program, will be used to bring the State of Hawaii into compliance with the national requirements regarding "Megan's Law" which better protects our citizens against potential sexual predators and determines eligibility for some federal funding; and WHEREAS, the funding will be used to accomplish the goals and objectives of this grant program of reinstating the convicted sex offenders on the State's official website, reducing the backlog of sex offender cases by at least 25%, and preventing any additional cases from increasing the backlog; and WHEREAS, Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 46-7, requires that county departments obtain the consent of the council to enter into agreements with the federal or state governments respecting action to be taken pursuant to any of the powers granted by law to furnish, expend, and receive any funds or other assistance in connection with projects being or to be undertaken pursuant to those powers. NOiPN, THEREFORE, EE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF TOME COUNTY OF FIe4Wi41`I, in accordance with section 46-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that the Mayor of the County of Hawaii is authorized to execute, on behalf of the County, an agreement with the State of Hawaii Department of the Attorney General, to enable the County to implement the Sex Offender Publication and Tracking Program as described in the concept proposal submitted to the Department of the Attorney General, attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference as Exhibit "A". BE iT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Mayor of the County of Hawaii is authorized to sign the above-referenced agreement and any related documents on behalf of the Office of the Mayor and the County of Hawaii pursuant to the Hawaii County Charter. EE iT FURTI~ER RESOLVED that the County Clerk of the County of Hawaii shall transmit copies of this resolution to the Office of the Mayor, the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, and the Finance Department. Dated at xilo ,Hawaii, this 23rd day of July , 2004. INTRODUCED BY: COUNCIL MEMBER, OUNTY OF HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL ROLL CALL VOTE County of Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii AYES NOES ABS EX ARAKAKI X I hereby certify that the foregoing RESOLUTION was by the CHUNG vote indicated to the right hereof adopted by the COUNCIL of ELARIONOFF X the County of Hawaii on July 2 3, 2 0 0 4 HOLSCHUH X ATTEST JACOBSON X REYNOLDS SAFARIK X TULANG C' " TYLER X i 6 0 3 0 1, C-682/Bill 293 Reference COUNTY CLERK CHAIRMAN & PRESIDING OFFICER RESOLUTION NO. ilay-07-20D4 03:20pm From-SDH/DEPT ~TY GEN/CPJA +6085861373 • T-949 P.OD1/006 F-169 TITLE PAGE Applicant Agency: Department of the Prosecuting At :orney Division/Section: Administration Name ofageneyeon[aCt: Claire J. Merry TelepIton.#: ~808Z~27-6526 Fax#: (808) 527-6409 E-mail address cmerry~co.honolulu,hi.us Project Title: Sex Offender Prosecution (SOP) Project Amount: 75% Federal (amount requesting): $ 193 , 851 25%Match (provided by agency): $ 64.6 .6>i_ Total: $ 258, 468 Applying for (check one): FY 2002 F Y 2004 Both ~ Y 2002 and 2004 ~ FY 2002 GCOC Priori Area FY 2004 G('OC Priori Area Dntgs Drug Interdi:tion `Property Crime Property tai ne J ,T Violence ~ Violence Alternatives to Incarceration Offender Se. vices Juvenile Crime ~ Computer C Imes System Improvement Criminal Hii tory Records Systems Purpose Area {select ONE only froth Attachment TV): 29 The proposal being submitted is: ? New Ct ntinuing For continuing projects, the request is for. 2°d year 3p y~ 4U1 year Drug task forces: enter number of years Are you applying to another source offending for rhis same proposal? Yes. If yes, name of granVagency Amount applying for: $ _ ? No. Concept paper ranking within agency: nn,F..or CPJAD Use Only Date Received: ~AR " $ 20uT EXHIBIT "A" Ilay-DT-2004 03:20pm From-SOH/DEPT O~TY GEN/CPJA +6D656613T3 • T-A4B P.DD2/006 F-168 1. PROBLEM STATEMENT Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) chapter 846E regtitrs certain convicted sex offenders to register with the State of Hawaii and to provide "relevant infortttation" - including fingerprints, a photograph and specific detaik about their occupations, residences, vehicles and.vital statistics. Section 846E-3 pnrvides for public release of relevant information that is "necessary to protect the publ c" from the convicted sex ' offender. This was the Hawaii legislatures' version of national legislation popularly known as "Megan's law". Until November 21, 2001, convicted sex offenders were ordered by the courts at the time of sentencing to comply with registration requiremer ts. The relevant information was then gathered by the Attorney General, specifically through the Hawaii Criminal Justice 17ata Center, and posted on the official website cf the State of Hawaii. On November 21, 2001, the Hawaii Supreme Court rendered it. opinion in State of Hawaii vs. Eto Bani, 97 Hawaii 285. The Bani case found that while the registration itself is constitutional, the public notification provisions of the statute implicated liberty int ;rests protected by the due process clause of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii. Therefore, they held that the notiScation provisions of HRS chapter 846E were void and unenforceable. While convicted sex offenders were still required to register and provide relevant information, this information was no longer available to the general pul~lie and it was immediately deleted from the official State website. In response, the Hawaii I,egislatute revised the notification provisions in H12S 846E-3 through Act 234 which became effective on July 1, ?002. Now, in order for the information to be available to the pub6C for their protection, there must first be a hearing before the court whereat the State has the initial burden of pr wing by a preponderance of the evidence that the sex offender is within the class requii ed to register under chapter 846E. Proof by the State shall give rise to a presumption t} at public release of relevant information is necessary to protect the public. Then the see, offender shall be given the opportunity to present evidence to rebut the presumption at td to show that the offender does not represent a threat to the community and that public release of relevant information is not necessary. It is anticipated that sex offenders will present exp~:rt testimony to show either that they are not a threat, or that they are treatable so as no: to be a threat.in the future. This will require the State to provide the court with its own expert testimony eoncertting the dynamics of sexual offenders, the statistical likelihood of successful treatment, and the likelihood of recidivism. If the judge determines that the offender is not a ilv eat, his relevant information will not be made available to the public. If the judge determines that public release is necessary, then, depending on various conditions and fact ors listed within the statute, such release would be for a period of ten years or life. 1 tlay-07-2004 03:20pm From-SOH/DEPT O~TY GEN/CPJA +8085861373 • T-B49 P.003/006 F-169 At the present [ime, there is a backlog of approxitr ately 1900 cases, the vast majority in the City and County of Honolulu, wherein the St.ite must prove at a hearing before a judge that the information should once again be put o t the State website. 2. STRATEGY Goal and Obiectives: Goal: To bring the State of Hawaii into compliance with the national requirements regarding "Megan's Law" which determines eligibility for some federal monies and better protects our citizens against potential sexual predators Obiectives: (1) Reinstate the convicted sex offenders on the 5tate's official webaite and make information about their whereabouts known to th< unsuspecting public before the end of the project period; (2) Reduce the backlog of approximately 1900 cases ~y at least 25% or 475 cases by the end of the project period; and (3) prevent any additional sex offender cases from increasing the identified backlog of cases so there would be no more that ~ 1,425 cases pending at the end of the project period. proiect Activities: In each case, the State must review the facts, determine whether an expert is necessary and if so provide the expert with the relevant doe tments and information. A Petition for a hearing will have to be prepared and filed, setti ng a hearing date. 'The State will then have to locate the sex offenders (many of whom Dave not complied with their registration requirements and their whereabouts may be unltnown) and serve the sex offender with the appropriate documents. The State then tas to locate, subpoena and interview any other necessary witnesses. Finally, the State must present the evidence to the court, including expert testimony, and persuade thy: court that the offender's information should be available to the public. Accomplishing this will require coordination with the courts to determine which court (the underlying sex offenses are obviously crimi;tal, but the newly enacted notification procedures are civil in nature) and which judge (or judges) will hear these petitions. Each hearing is anticipated to take anywhere from, fifteen minutes up to several hours, depending on the evidence and testimony presented b f' either side. In order to accomplish these activities, it has beer determined that two felony prosecutors and one pars-legal would be necessary. The pro>ecutors are needed to handle 2 tlay-OT-2004 03:21 pm Fr°m-SOH/DEPT O~TY GEN/CPJA +8065661373 • T-949 P.D04/006 F-199 all of the legal aspects including court preparation, court app-:arances, and court follow- up while the pars-legal can assist with a lot of the legal research and document preparations fox court. Some of these convictions date back G ~ the `60's, `70's, '80's and •g0's. 7n order to go forward, there would be a need for c~urent information to argue continued dangerousness. The Hawaii Criminal Justice Date Center maintained limited information on offenders and out-dated information on ofi enders not in compliance. Each offender would need to be double-checked against CJIS. Other complications in these cases involve factors like offenders are incarcerated on the mainland; many convicted offenders no longer live in Honolulu; many conviel ed offenders from the outer islands now live in Honolulu; many convicted offenders living in Honolulu have mainland convictions; and the likelihood that we will aeu~mplish all of the required activities f or every se x o ffender b efore o ne o f t hem c omm: is another se x o ffense t hat could have been prevented by public dissemination is probabl ~ zero. 3 PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Tlie project will be successful when: (1) the State has successful in reinstating the convicted sex offenders on the State's official website and Hake information about their whereabouts known to the unsuspecting public before the er~d of the project period; (2) the backlog of cases has been reduced by 25% or by 475 cases during the first year; and (3) No a dditional cases h ave been added to the i dentified 1 ~acklog of 1900 cases. It is estimated that with each hearing held, the backlog will be re iuced. Onct the backlog is eliminated, future hearings in future cases will be held at the time of the scheduled sentencing hearing and will not require this additional step. 3 Uay-07-2004 03:21 pm From-SOH/DEPT O~TY GEN/CPJA +8085961373 • T-949 P.005/OD6 F-199 4 ESTIMATED $UAGET A. SALARIES Positions Level Monthly Annual Dep. Pros, Atty. LS-12 $ 6,022.67 x 6 mos. $ 36,136.02 Dep. Pros. Atty. LS-12 $ 6,263.58 x 6 mos. $ 37,581,48 pep. Pros. Atty. LS-12 $ 6,022,67 x 6 mos. $ 36,136,02 Dep. Pros. Atty. LS-12 $ 6,263.58 x 6 mos. $ 37,581.48 Paralegal II 5R-20J $ 4,004.00 x 12 mos. $ 48,048,00 Sub-total $195,483.00 B. ALLOWABLE FRINGE BENEFITS Retirement 8,88% Health 15.48% Social Security 6.20% Medicaze 1.45% Workers' Compensation 0.21% 32.22% F.B. sub-tot; Q $ 62,984.62 Total $258,467,62 Total $258,468.00 (Rounded) All of the fringe benefits and $1,922 of the salaries will be paid by City funds to meet the matching requirement. C. CONSULTANTS 0 D. TRANSPORTATION AND SU$SISTENCE 0 E. SUPPLIES 0 F, OTHER COSTS, SUCH AS EQUIPMENT 0 TOTAL. PROJECT $258,468.00 COSTS 4 flay-07-2004 03:21 pm Fram-SOH/DEPT~TTY GEN/CPJA +6065861373 ~ T-646 P.006/006 F-I66 5. PROBABILITY TO IMPROVE THE CRIMINAL JUS77CE SYSTEM This project will attempt to bring the State of Hawaii into compliance with the national r equirements r egarding "Megan's Law" w hick d ete mines a ligibiliry for s ome federal monies and better protects our citizens against potential sexual predators. With the success of this project, there are several probabilities to i~nptrove the criminal justice system. First, with compliance there may be more federal moues available to be utilized for system improvements. Second, the criminal justice . ystem will become more responsive to the need of the public to feel safe from sexual predators. Third, addressing the concerns of this project will require several agencies, :uch as the Prosecutor, the Courts, the Public Defenders, and the Depamnent of Corrections as they transport incarcerated offenders to work in concert to focus on this problem. Ultimately, the Departmetzt of the Attorney General, specifically the Hacraii Criminal justice Data Center, will also become involved in the posting of sex offer iers on the Internet. Better protection of the citizen is the impetus here to improve the cri~ ninal justice system. 5