2016 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 44 - Health
CHAPTER 48 - SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR ACT
Section 44-48-40. Notification to team, victim and attorney general regarding release, hearing or parole; effective date of parole or release; immunity.

(A) If a person has been convicted of a sexually violent offense, the agency with jurisdiction must give written notice to the multidisciplinary team established in Section 44-48-50, the victim, and the Attorney General at least two hundred seventy days before:

(1) the person's anticipated release from total confinement, except that in the case of a person who is returned to prison for no more than two hundred seventy days as a result of a revocation of any type of community supervision program, written notice must be given as soon as practicable following the person's readmission to prison;

(2) the anticipated hearing on fitness to stand trial following notice under Section 44-23-460 of a person who has been charged with a sexually violent offense but who was found unfit to stand trial for the reasons set forth in Section 44-23-410 following a hearing held pursuant to Section 44-23-430;

(3) the anticipated hearing pursuant to Section 17-24-40(C) of a person who has been found not guilty by reason of insanity of a sexually violent offense; or

(4) release of a person who has been found guilty of a sexually violent offense but mentally ill pursuant to Section 17-24-20.

(B) If a person has been convicted of a sexually violent offense and the Board of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services or the Board of Juvenile Parole intends to grant the person a parole or the South Carolina Department of Corrections or the Board of Juvenile Parole intends to grant the person a conditional release, the parole or the conditional release must be granted to be effective one hundred eighty days after the date of the order of parole or conditional release. The Board of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, the Board of Juvenile Parole, or the South Carolina Department of Corrections immediately must send notice of the parole or conditional release of the person to the multidisciplinary team, the victim, and the Attorney General. If the person is determined to be a sexually violent predator pursuant to this chapter, the person is subject to the provisions of this chapter even though the person has been released on parole or conditional release.

(C) The agency with jurisdiction must inform the multidisciplinary team, the victim, and the Attorney General of:

(1) the person's name, identifying factors, anticipated future residence, and offense history; and

(2) documentation of institutional adjustment and any treatment received.

(D) The agency with jurisdiction, its employees, officials, individuals contracting, appointed, or volunteering to perform services under this chapter, the multidisciplinary team, and the prosecutor's review committee established in Section 44-48-60 are immune from civil or criminal liability for any good-faith conduct under this act.

HISTORY: 1998 Act No. 321, Section 1; 2004 Act No. 176, Section 1, eff February 18, 2004, except subsection (A); 2010 Act No. 158, Section 1, eff November 8, 2010.

Editor's Note

2004 Act No. 176, Section 3, provides as follows:

"This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor, except that the provisions in Sections 44-48-40(A), changing the time period for written notice from ninety days to one hundred eighty days, take effect six months after the signature of the Governor [signed February 18, 2004]."

Effect of Amendment

The 2004 amendment, in the introductory paragraph to subsection (A), added "the victim" and substituted "one hundred eighty days" for "ninety days", in subsection (A)(1), inserted "person's" before "anticipated release" and deleted "of a person who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense" following "total confinement" and substituted "one hundred eighty days" for "ninety days", in subsections (B) and (C), inserted "the victim" in the lists of those entitled to notice, and made nonsubstantive changes throughout.

The 2010 amendment, in subsection (A), substituted "If" for "When" and "two hundred seventy" for "one hundred eighty", and in subsection (B), substituted "If" for "When" and "one hundred eighty" for "ninety".