Sec. 11. 17-A MRSA §1256, sub-§8, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 739, §2, is amended to read:

8. No court may impose a sentence of imprisonment, not wholly suspended, to be served consecutively to any split sentence, or to any sentence including supervised release under chapter 50, previously imposed or imposed on the same date, if the net result, even with the options made available by subsections 5 and 9 of this section and section 1202, subsection 4, would be to have the person released from physical confinement to be on probation or supervised release for the first sentence and thereafter be required to serve an unsuspended term of imprisonment on the 2nd sentence.

Sec. 12. 17-A MRSA §1263, sub-§1, śC, as enacted by PL 1985, c. 821, §15, is amended to read:

C. The sentence imposed conforms to the requirements of section 1262 and would, in any case, have been a split sentence under section 1203, subsection 1 1-A, with commitment under both portions of the sentence to the Department of Corrections;

SUMMARY

This bill comprises the unanimous statutory recommendations of the Joint Select Committee to Implement a Program for the Control, Care and Treatment of Sexually Violent Predators, created by Joint Order, House Paper 1653, 118th Maine Legislature. The complete recommendations and background information are contained in the select committee's final report.

This bill makes a number of changes to the current punishment provisions in the Maine Criminal Code, Part III in an effort to allow courts to deal more effectively with the dangerous sexual offender. These changes provide for longer terms of imprisonment, longer periods of probation and the imposition of supervised release when a term of imprisonment expires.

The bill defines what is meant by "dangerous sexual offender." The definition targets those sexual offenders who commit a new gross sexual assault under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17- A, section 253 after having been previously convicted and sentenced for a serious sexual assault. Because prior intervention of the criminal justice system has failed to