46-23-509. Sexual offender evaluations and designations -- rulemaking authority. - Montana Statutes

     46-23-509. Sexual offender evaluations and designations -- rulemaking authority. (1) The department shall adopt rules for the qualification of sexual offender evaluators who conduct sexual offender and sexually violent predator evaluations and for determinations by sexual offender evaluators of the risk of a repeat offense and the threat that an offender poses to the public safety.
     (2) Prior to sentencing of a person convicted of a sexual offense, the department or a sexual offender evaluator shall provide the court with a sexual offender evaluation report recommending one of the following levels of designation for the offender:
     (a) level 1, the risk of a repeat sexual offense is low;
     (b) level 2, the risk of a repeat sexual offense is moderate;
     (c) level 3, the risk of a repeat sexual offense is high, there is a threat to public safety, and the sexual offender evaluator believes that the offender is a sexually violent predator.
     (3) Upon sentencing the offender, the court shall:
     (a) review the sexual offender evaluation report, any statement by a victim, and any statement by the offender;
     (b) designate the offender as level 1, 2, or 3; and
     (c) designate a level 3 offender as a sexually violent predator.
     (4) An offender designated as a level 2 offender or given a level designation by another state, the federal government, or the department under subsection (6) that is determined by the court to be similar to level 2 may petition the sentencing court or the district court for the judicial district in which the offender resides to change the offender's designation if the offender has enrolled in and successfully completed the treatment phase of either the prison's sexual offender treatment program or of an equivalent program approved by the department. After considering the petition, the court may change the offender's risk level designation if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the offender's risk of committing a repeat sexual offense has changed since the time sentence was imposed. The court shall impose one of the three risk levels specified in this section.
     (5) If, at the time of sentencing, the sentencing judge did not apply a level designation to a sexual offender who is required to register under this part and who was sentenced prior to October 1, 1997, the department shall designate the offender as level 1, 2, or 3 when the offender is released from confinement.
     (6) If an offense is covered by 46-23-502(9)(b), the offender registers under 46-23-504(1)(c), and the offender was given a risk level designation after conviction by another state or the federal government, the department of justice may give the offender the risk level designation assigned by the other state or the federal government.
     (7) The lack of a fixed residence is a factor that may be considered by the sentencing court or by the department in determining the risk level to be assigned to an offender pursuant to this section.

     History: En. Sec. 12, Ch. 375, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 358, L. 1999; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 22, Sp. L. August 2002; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 313, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 24, Ch. 483, L. 2007.