250 Conn. 280 | Conn. | 1999
Lead Opinion
Opinion
The sole issue in this appeal is
whether the office of adult probation has authority to provide members of the public with information concerning a probationer guilty of sexual offenses not enumerated in subsection (a) of General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 54-102s.
The state’s attorney then recited the terms of the plea bargain: “The recommendation in this case . . . is eighteen months suspended, three years of probation. [The] conditions of probation are sexual offender evaluation and treatment if deemed necessary by the office of adult probation.” The defendant agreed to this plea bargain. The trial court then sentenced the defendant to one year incarceration, execution suspended, three years probation on the fourth degree sexual assault count and six months incarceration, execution suspended, one year probation, on the public indecency count. The defendant’s total effective sentence was eighteen months incarceration, execution suspended, three years probation. The trial court imposed the following conditions of probation: sexual offender testing; counseling and treatment deemed appropriate by the department of adult probation; no contact with the victim; and any other conditions imposed by the office of adult probation.
Thereafter, on March 19, 1998, the office of adult probation informed both the court and the defendant that it intended to notify the defendant’s neighbors and fellow bowling league participants of the defendant’s
The defendant argues that § 54-102s is the only authority permitting a probation officer to provide the public with information about a probationer’s criminal history. He further asserts that the provisions of § 54-102s authorizing public notification are applicable only when a defendant is convicted of an offense enumerated in subsection (a) of § 54-102s, which the defendant was not.
The state counters that there is no statutory bar to a probation officer apprising the public of the defendant’s conviction. The state argues that the authority of the office of adult probation to engage in community notification derives from its general authority to supervise the probationer during the probationary period. The state also argues that if the authority for public notification is derived from § 54-102s, as the trial court concluded, then the plain language of subsection (c) of § 54-102s permits community notification for offenses other than those enumerated in subsection (a) of § 54-102s.
To determine whether the legislature intended to permit the office of adult probation to notify the public of
In Pieger, we held that, “[p]ursuant to § 53a-30 (a), a sentencing court may impose a variety of conditions to a sentence of probation, all of which are aimed at rehabilitating the defendant. . . . [T]he terms of subdivision (12) [of § 53a-30 (a)] are very broad. By allowing the trial court to impose ‘any other conditions reasonably related to [the defendant’s] rehabilitation’ . . . the legislature authorized the court to impose any condition that would help to secure the defendant’s reformation. This broad power is consistent with the goals of probation.” (Citation omitted; emphasis in original.) Id., 646-47. “Additionally, because probation is, first and foremost, a penal alternative to incarceration — its objectives are to foster the offender’s reformation and to preserve the public’s safety — a sentencing court must have the discretion to fashion those conditions of probation it deems necessary to ensure that the individual successfully completes the terms of probation.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 647. “The success of probation as a correctional tool is in large part tied to the flexibility within which it is permitted to operate.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Smith, 207 Conn. 152, 171, 540 A.2d 679 (1988); accord State v. Pieger, supra, 648. In Smith, we observed: “Years ago, the United States Supreme Court said that the purpose of probation is to provide a period of grace in order to aid the rehabilitation of a penitent offender; to take advantage of an opportunity for reformation which
In this case, the defendant questioned the authority of the office of adult probation to notify the public, and, after hearing arguments, the trial court specifically authorized the office of adult probation to notify the defendant’s immediate neighbors and the local school principal. We conclude that the trial court, under § § 53a-30 (a) and 54-108, properly upheld the authority of the office of adult probation to give notification as a condition of probation.
“On appeal, the standard of review of an order of probation is whether the trial court abused its discretion. If it appears that the trial court reasonably was
We conclude that the trial court acted within its discretion in permitting the office of adult probation, as a condition of probation, to notify members of the defendant’s community “in an attempt to foster the defendant’s reformation.” Id., 649. The defendant had pleaded guilty to sexual assault in the fourth degree and public indecency in a case involving a mentally impaired victim. The trial court thereafter ordered, under the terms of the plea bargain entered into by the defendant, and as a condition of probation, sexual offender testing, counseling and treatment. Notification to the public was a reasonable component of the defendant’s sexual offender treatment. Community notification by the office of adult probation would be a suitable means to “aid and encourage [the defendant] and to bring about improvement in his conduct and condition.” General Statutes § 54-108.
In Roe v. Office of Adult Probation, 125 F.3d 47 (2d Cir. 1997), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals cited the testimony of Michael Santese, Connecticut’s deputy director of operations for the office of adult probation, in which he discussed several purposes of community notification: “Certainly, one of the most important is public safety. It enables the recipients [of such notification] to have information that helps to protect them from becoming victims of sexual offenses. . . . [I]t
The defendant, on the other hand, argues that only under the authority bestowed by § 54-102s may a probation officer disclose information concerning a sexual offender on probation. The defendant claims that § 54-102s does not apply to him because he is not a “sexual offender,” as defined by § 54-102s (a). He argues that the reference in § 54-102s (c) to “the probationer” refers to a “sexual offender” on probation. He argues, therefore, that § 54-102s (c) restricts disclosure to information concerning only that limited class of probationers. We reject this argument.
Section 54-102s (c) is part of Connecticut’s “Megan’s Law.” “On July 29, 1994, Megan Kanka, a seven year old child, was abducted, raped, and murdered near her home. The man who confessed to Megan’s murder lived in a house across the street from the Kanka family and had twice been convicted of sex offenses involving young girls. Megan, her parents, local police, and the members of the community were unaware of the accused murderer’s history; nor did they know that he shared his house with two other men who had been convicted of sex offenses.” E.B. v. Verniero, 119 F.3d 1077, 1081 (3d Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 1109, 118 S. Ct. 1039, 140 L. Ed. 2d 105 (1998). Statutes such as § 54-102s “are called ‘Megan’s Law,’ after Megan Kanka,
Section 54-102s (c) provides that “[n]othing in this section or section 54-102r
The purpose of “Megan’s Law” supports our view that § 54-102s does not limit the authority of the office of adult probation to notify the community in cases such as this one. We agree with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that Connecticut’s sex offender registration and notification statutes were enacted “[i]n response to concerns regarding the harm to society caused by sex crimes and the relatively high rate of recidivism among sex offenders . . . .’’Id., 48.
Our examination of the language of the statute mandating certain public disclosure, the legislative policy it was designed to implement and its relationship to existing legislation leads us to conclude that the legislature, in enacting § 54-102s, did not intend to restrict the discretionary power of the office of adult probation to notify the public in cases in which the probationer has been convicted under a provision not enumerated in § 54-102s (a). We conclude that the office of adultprobation already possessed this power, apart from any provision of § 54-102s, and that it properly exercised that power in this case. If a probation officer determines that public safety will be advanced by community notification, such notification is not prohibited by § 54-102s (c).
The trial court’s designation of the defendant as a “sexual offender,” as agreed upon in the plea bargain, placed the defendant among those offenders subject to careful supervision by the office of adult probation. The plea bargain provided that, for the period of probation, the defendant would be treated as a sexual offender. In view of the evils to be avoided in the case of sexual predators of children or the mentally impaired, it would stand Megan’s Law on its head to hold that § 54-102s prohibits the office of adult probation from warning
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion CALLAHAN, C. J., and BORDEN, KATZ, PALMER and PETERS, Js., concurred.
General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 54-102s, which was applicable when the court rendered judgment sentencing the defendant to probation, provides: “Notification of change of address of sexual offenders on parole orprobation. (a) For the purposes of this section, ‘sexual offender’ means any person convicted of a violation of subdivision (2) of section 53-21, section 53a-70, 53a-70a, 53a-70b, 53a-71, 53a-72a or 53a-72b committed on or after October 1, 1995.
“(b) Any sexual offender who is released from a correctional institution on parole or who is sentenced to a period of probation shall, during the
“(c) Nothing in this section or section 54-102r shall be construed to prohibit a parole officer or probation officer acting in the performance of his duties and within the scope of his employment from disclosing any information concerning the parolee or probationer to any person whenever he deems such disclosure to be appropriate.”
This section was transferred to General Statutes § 54-260 in 1999. The only amendment was the deletion of the words “or section 54-102r” in subsection (c) to reflect the repeal of General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 54-102r by Public Acts 1998, No. 98-111, § 12.
Hereinafter, all references to § 54-102s are to the 1997 revision of the statute.
General Statutes § 53a-73a provides in relevant part: “Sexual assault in the fourth degree: Class A misdemeanor, (a) A person is guilty of sexual assault in the fourth degree when: (1) Such person intentionally subjects another person to sexual contact who is (A) under fifteen years of age, or (B) mentally defective or mentally incapacitated to the extent that he is unable to consent to such sexual contact, or (C) physically helpless, or (D) less than eighteen years old and the actor is such person’s guardian or otherwise responsible for the general supervision of such person’s welfare, or (E) in custody of law or detained in a hospital or other institution and the actor has supervisory or disciplinary authority over such other person; or (2) such person subjects another person to sexual contact without such other person’s consent; or (3) such person engages in sexual contact with an animal or dead body; or (4) such person is a psychotherapist and subjects another person to sexual contact who is (A) a patient of the actor and the sexual contact occurs during the psychotherapy session, or (B) a patient or former patient of the actor and such patient or former patient is emotionally dependent upon the actor, or (C) a patient or former patient of the actor and the sexual contact occurs by means of therapeutic deception; or (5) such person subjects another person to sexual contact and accomplishes the sexual contact by means of false representation that the sexual contact is for a bona fide medical purpose by a health care professional; or (6) such person is a school employee and subjects another person to sexual contact
General Statutes § 53a-65 (3) defines sexual contact as “any contact with the intimate parts of a person not married to the actor for the purpose of sexual gratification of the actor or for the purpose of degrading or humiliating such person or any contact of the intimate parts of the actor with a person not married to the actor for the purpose of sexual gratification of the actor or for the purpose of degrading or humiliating such person.”
General Statutes § 53a-186 provides in relevant part: “Public indecency: Class B misdemeanor, (a) A person is guilty of public indecency when he performs any of the following ads in a public, place: (1) An act of sexual intercourse as defined in subdivision (2) of section 53a-65; or (2) a lewd exposure of the body with intent to arouse or to satisfy the sexual desire of the person; or (3) a lewd fondling or caress of the body of another person. . . .”
The written notice apprising the defendant of the conditions of his probation provided: “[I]n addition to those that may be imposed by the Office of Adult Probation . . . sex offender treat, test, eval [and] no contact [with] victim.”
General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 53a-30 provides in relevant part: “Conditions of probation and conditional discharge, (a) When imposing sentence of probation or conditional discharge, the court may, as a condition of the sentence, order that the defendant: (1) Work faithfully at a suitable employment or faithfully pursue a course of study or of vocational training that will equip him for suitable employment; (2) undergo medical dr psychiatric treatment and remain in a specified institution, when required for that purpose; (3) support his dependents and meet other family obligations; (4) make restitution of the fruits of his offense or make restitution, in an amount he can afford to pay or provide in a suitable manner, for the loss or damage caused thereby and the court may fix the amount thereof and the manner of performance; (5) if a minor, (A) reside with his parents or in a suitable foster home, (B) attend school, and (C) contribute to his own support in any home or foster home; (6) post a bond or other security for the performance of any or all conditions imposed; (7) refrain from violating any criminal law of the United States, this state or any other state; (8) if convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony, other than a capital felony, a class A felony or a violation of section 21a-278, 21a-278a, 53a-55, 53a-56, 53a-56b, 53a-57, 53a-58 or 53a-70b or any offense for which there is a mandatory minimum sentence which may not be suspended or reduced by the court, and any sentence of imprisonment is suspended, participate in an alternate incarceration program; (9) reside in a residential community center or halfway house approved by the Commissioner of Correction, and contribute to the cost incident to such residence; (10) participate in a program of community service labor in accordance with section 53a-39c; (11) if convicted of a violation of subdivision (2) of section 53-21, section 53a-70, 53a-70a, 53a-70b, 53a-71, 53a-72a or 53a-72b, undergo specialized sexual offender treatment; (12) satisfy any other conditions reasonably related to his rehabilitation. The court shall cause a copy of any such order to be delivered to the defendant and to the probation officer, if any. ...”
Hereinafter, allreferences to § 53a-30 are to the 1997 revision of the statute.
General Statutes § 54-108 provides in relevant part: “Duties of probation officers. Probation officers shall . . . use all suitable methods to aid and encourage [a probationer] and to bring about improvement in his conduct and condition. . . .”
General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 54-102r consisted of a registration scheme for sex offenders who were going “to be released from the supervision of the Office of Adult Probation upon completion or termination of a sentence of probation or . . . released from a correctional facility”; General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 54-102r (b); and required these offenders to provide certain registration information to law enforcement officials. In 1995, § 54-102r had been amended to allow the disclosure of registration information “to any specific person if such disclosure is deemed necessary by the chief of police of the police department or resident state trooper of the municipality 1o protect said person from any person subject to . . . registration . . . .” General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 54-102r (g); see Public Acts 1995, No. 95-142, § 10. In 1998, the legislature repealed § 54-102r effective October 1, 1998. See Public Acts 1998, No. 98-111, § 12.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. The defendant, Donald Misiorski, pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors arising out of a single act of sexual misconduct and public indecency. The defendant’s probation officer decided of his own accord that General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 54-102s
In the final sentence of its opinion, the majority concludes that Megan’s Law does not “[prohibit] the office of adult probation from warning potential and vulnerable victims” of potentially dangerous transgressors. I do not, of course, doubt the legitimacy of the state’s power to protect the public. The real question implicated by the present case, however, is whether the state may brand a defendant as a deviant sexual predator without first according that defendant a meaningful hearing that satisfies the requirements of due process of law. In my view, this latter question admits of only one answer: the constitution forbids the state from depriving a citizen of his privacy unless it first conducts a rigorous, judicial inquiry.
“Traditionally, the extent of process due an individual subject to a possible deprivation of a protected liberty or property interest is analyzed under the framework of Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 96 S. Ct. 893, 47 L. Ed. 2d 18 (1976).” Doe v. Pataki, 3 F. Sup. 2d 456, 469 (S.D.N.Y. 1998). In Mathews, the United States Supreme Court explained that the determination of what process
The private interest at stake is of constitutional magnitude, and hence of the highest order. “Constitutional privacy interests are implicated . . . because . . . [t]he damage to [citizens’] reputations resulting from [disclosure] stigmatizes them as currently dangerous sex offenders, can harm their earning capacities, and can cause them to be objects of derision in the community.” Doe v. Sex Offender Registry Board, 428 Mass. 90, 101 n.12, 697 N.E.2d 512 (1998); accord E.B. v. Verniero, 119 F.3d 1077, 1105-1106 (3d Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 1109, 118 S. Ct. 1039, 140 L. Ed. 2d 105 (1998); Doe v. Pataki, supra, 3 F. Sup. 2d 467-68; Cutshall v. Sundquist, 980 F. Sup. 928, 932 (M.D. Tenn. 1997); Doe v. Poritz, 142 N.J. 1, 99-107, 662 A.2d 367 (1995).
The risk of an erroneous deprivation when probation officers are deputized to make life shattering decisions under Megan’s Law is unacceptably high. Such determinations are the province of judges, not probation officers. Accordingly, “the probable value . . . [of] substitute procedural safeguards”; Mathews v. Eldridge, supra, 424 U.S. 334; — namely, the requirement of a rigorous, judicial determination before a disclosure may be made — is substantial.
Finally, the state’s interest consists of averting theoretical harm that might occur in the absence of prompt notification. This interest well may justify disclosure
In my view, my analysis of the Mathews factors compels the conclusion that a judicial hearing must be conducted before any disclosures may be made pursuant to Megan’s Law. This conclusion comports with the holdings of a number of well reasoned opinions from highly respected courts. See, e.g., E.B. v. Verniero, supra, 119 F.3d 1105-1106; Doe v. Pataki, supra, 3 F. Sup. 2d 471-72; Doe v. Sex Offender Registry Board, supra, 428 Mass. 101 n.12; Doe v. Poritz, supra, 142 N.J. 107. These courts have also addressed the sensitive question of how, precisely, the state should balance a citizen’s right to privacy against the perceived need to invade that privacy through disclosure pursuant to Megan’s Law. Drawing upon the work of these courts, I would hold that: (1) a judicial hearing is required; (2) the defendant is entitled to legal representation at this hearing; (3) the state must furnish an attorney to a defendant who cannot afford one; (4) the state must prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that disclosure is necessary to prevent a substantial likelihood of grave harm; and (5) the defendant is entitled to assert an appeal as of right before his criminal record may be exposed to members of his community.
I recognize that the nightmarish regime created by the majority is not inconsistent with the text of Megan’s Law.
“Because statutory construction is informed by the presence of constitutional infirmities, this court reads statutes so as to avoid, rather than to create, constitutional questions. In re Valerie D., 223 Conn. 492, 534, 613 A.2d 748 (1992). More specifically, [i]n choosing between two statutory constructions, one valid and one constitutionally precarious, we will search for an effective and constitutional construction that reasonably accords with the legislature’s underlying intent. . . . In re Baby Girl B., 224 Conn. 263, 286, 618 A.2d 1 (1992). By refusing to acknowledge the unconstitutional consequences of the decision it renders today, the majority performs an end run around this basic axiom of statutory construction.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) In re Baby Z., 247 Conn. 474, 561, 724 A.2d 1035 (1999) (Berdon, J., dissenting).
In short, the majority’s grant of fascistic powers to probation officers cuts away a pound of flesh from the constitutional right to privacy. Accordingly, I dissent.
As it read at the time of the defendant’s offense, General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 54-102s provided: “(a) For the purposes of this section, ‘sexual offender’ means any person convicted of a violation of subdivision (2) of section 53-21, section 53a-70, section 53a-70a, 53a-70b, 53a-71, 53a-72a or 53a-72b committed on or after October 1, 1995.
“(b) Any sexual offender who is released from a correctional institution on parole or who is sentenced to a period of probation shall, during the period of such parole or probation and as a condition of such parole or probation, immediately notify his parole officer or probation officer, as the case may be, whenever he changes his residence address. Each parole officer or probation officer who is notified of such change of address shall notify the chief of police of the police department or resident state trooper for the municipality of the new address of the parolee or probationer and any other law enforcement official he deems appropriate.
“(c) Nothing in this section or section 54-102r shall be construed to prohibit a parole officer or probation officer acting in the performance of his duties and within the scope of his employment from disclosing any information concerning the parolee or probationer to any person whenever he deems such disclosure to be appropriate.”
This section was transferred to General Statutes § 54-260 in 1999 and the words “or section 54-102r” in subsection (c) were deleted to reflect the repeal of General Statutes § 54-102r by Public Acts 1998, No. 98-111.
The majority asserts that “ ‘the trial judge has an exceptional degree of flexibility’ ” to determine the terms of probation. (Emphasis added.) Because the majority authorizes probation officers to make disclosures pursuant to Megan’s Law, this proposition has nothing to do with the result that the majority has reached.
The relevant text of Megan’s Law provides: “Nothing in this section . . . shall be construed to prohibit a parole officer or probation officer acting in the performance of his duties and within the scope of his employment from disclosing any information concerning the parolee or probationer to any person whenever he deems such disclosure to be appropriate.” General Statutes (Rev. to 1997) § 54-102s (c).