(a) No adult sex offender shall establish a residence or maintain a residence after release or conviction within 2,000 feet of the property on which any school, childcare facility, or resident camp facility is located unless otherwise exempted pursuant to Sections 15-20A-23 and 15-20A-24. For the purposes of this section, a resident camp facility includes any place, area, parcel, or tract of land which contains permanent or semi-permanent facilities for sleeping owned by a business, church, or nonprofit organization used primarily for educational, recreational, or religious purposes for minors and the location of the resident camp has been provided to local law enforcement. Resident camp does not include a private residence, farm, or hunting or fishing camp.
(b) No adult sex offender shall establish a residence or maintain a residence after release or conviction within 2,000 feet of the property on which his or her former victim, or an immediate family member of the victim, resides unless otherwise exempted pursuant to Section 15-20A-24 or Section 15-20A-16.
(c) Changes to property within 2,000 feet of a registered address of an adult sex offender which occur after the adult sex offender establishes residency shall not form the basis for finding that the adult sex offender is in violation of this section unless the sex offender has been released or convicted of a new offense after establishing residency.
(d) No adult sex offender shall reside or conduct an overnight visit with a minor. Notwithstanding the foregoing, an adult sex offender may reside with a minor if the adult sex offender is the parent, grandparent, stepparent, sibling, or stepsibling of the minor, unless one of the following conditions applies:
(1) Parental rights of the adult sex offender have been or are in the process of being terminated as provided by law.
(2) The adult sex offender has been convicted of any sex offense in which any of the minor children, grandchildren, stepchildren, siblings, or stepsiblings of the adult sex offender was the victim.
(3) The adult sex offender has been convicted of any sex offense in which a minor was the victim and the minor resided or lived with the adult sex offender at the time of the offense.
(4) The adult sex offender has been convicted of any sex offense involving a child, regardless of whether the adult sex offender was related to or shared a residence with the child victim.
(5) The adult sex offender has been convicted of any sex offense involving forcible compulsion in which the victim was a minor.
(e) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law regarding establishment of residence, an adult sex offender shall be deemed to have established a residence wherever he or she resides following release, regardless of whether the adult sex offender resided at the same location prior to the time of conviction.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law regarding establishment of residence, an adult sex offender has transferred his or her residence for purposes of Section 15-20A-10(e)(1) whenever the adult sex offender vacates his or her residence or fails to spend three or more consecutive days at his or her residence without previously notifying local law enforcement or obtaining a travel notification document pursuant to Section 15-20A-15.
(f) An adult sex offender is exempt from subsections (a) and (b) during the time the adult sex offender is in the facility of a licensed health care provider or is incarcerated in a jail, prison, mental health facility, or any other correctional placement facility wherein the adult sex offender is not allowed unsupervised access to the public.
(g) An adult sex offender shall not be found in violation of subsection (a) on the basis of any address, street number, place, or parcel that has been approved in writing by local law enforcement prior to establishing a residence. Local law enforcement shall promulgate, publicize, and enforce a policy that affords sex offenders a reasonable opportunity to obtain preapproval of a proposed residence.
(h) For the purposes of this section, the 2,000-foot measurement shall be taken in a straight line from nearest property line to nearest property line.
(i) Any person who knowingly violates this section shall be guilty of a Class C felony.
Last modified: May 3, 2021