Sec. 1. 17-A MRSA §1175, first ¶, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 680, §5, is amended to read:

Upon complying with subsection 1, a victim of a crime of murder or of a Class A, Class B or Class C crime for which the defendant is committed to the Department of Corrections or to a county jail, or a victim of a crime of gross sexual assault who had not in fact attained 16 years of age at the time of the crime for which the defendant is placed in institutional confinement under Title 15, section 103 after having been found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disease or defect and is placed in institutional confinement under Title 15, section 103, must receive notice of the defendant's unconditional release and discharge from institutional confinement upon the expiration of the sentence or upon discharge under Title 15, section 104-A and must receive notice of any conditional release of the defendant from institutional confinement, including probation, parole, furlough, work release, intensive supervision, supervised community confinement, home release monitoring or similar program or release under Title 15, section 104-A.

SUMMARY

This bill broadens victim notification of a defendant's release, conditional or unconditional, from institutional confinement under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 15, section 104-A following involuntary commitment under Title 15, section 103 as a consequence of the defendant having been found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disease or defect. Currently, victim notification of a defendant's release from such confinement applies only to a gross sexual assault victim under 16 years of age. This bill includes a murder victim as well as a victim of any Class A, Class B or Class C crime. The bill is the recommendation of the Department of the Attorney General.