Texas Code of Criminal Procedure

Art. Art. 62.007
Risk Assessment Review Committee; Sex Offender Screening Tool

(a)

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall establish a risk assessment review committee composed of at least seven members, each of whom serves on the review committee in addition to the member’s other employment-related duties. The review committee, to the extent feasible, must include at least:

(1)

one member having experience in law enforcement;

(2)

one member having experience working with juvenile sex offenders;

(3)

one member having experience as a sex offender treatment provider;

(4)

one member having experience working with victims of sex offenses;

(5)

the executive director of the Council on Sex Offender Treatment; and

(6)

one sex offender treatment provider registered under Chapter 110 (Council on Sex Offender Treatment), Occupations Code, and selected by the executive director of the Council on Sex Offender Treatment to serve on the review committee.

(b)

The risk assessment review committee functions in an oversight capacity. The committee shall:

(1)

develop or select, from among existing tools or from any tool recommended by the Council on Sex Offender Treatment, a sex offender screening tool to be used in determining the level of risk of a person subject to registration under this chapter;

(2)

ensure that staff is trained on the use of the screening tool;

(3)

monitor the use of the screening tool in the state; and

(4)

analyze other screening tools as they become available and revise or replace the existing screening tool if warranted.

(c)

The sex offender screening tool must use an objective point system under which a person is assigned a designated number of points for each of various factors. In developing or selecting the sex offender screening tool, the risk assessment review committee shall use or shall select a screening tool that may be adapted to use the following general guidelines:

(1)

level one (low): a designated range of points on the sex offender screening tool indicating that the person poses a low danger to the community and will not likely engage in criminal sexual conduct;

(2)

level two (moderate): a designated range of points on the sex offender screening tool indicating that the person poses a moderate danger to the community and might continue to engage in criminal sexual conduct; and

(3)

level three (high): a designated range of points on the sex offender screening tool indicating that the person poses a serious danger to the community and will continue to engage in criminal sexual conduct.

(d)

The risk assessment review committee, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, or a court may override a risk level only if the entity:

(1)

believes that the risk level assessed is not an accurate prediction of the risk the offender poses to the community; and

(2)

documents the reason for the override in the offender’s case file.

(e)

Records and files, including records that have been sealed under Chapter 58 (Records; Juvenile Justice Information System), Family Code, relating to a person for whom a court, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, or the Texas Juvenile Justice Department is required under this article to determine a level of risk shall be released to the court, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, or the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, as appropriate, for the purpose of determining the person’s risk level.

(f)

Chapter 551 (Open Meetings), Government Code, does not apply to a meeting of the risk assessment review committee.

(g)

The numeric risk level assigned to a person using the sex offender screening tool described by this article is not confidential and is subject to disclosure under Chapter 552 (Public Information), Government Code.
Reenacted and amended by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 1008 (H.B. 867), Sec. 1.01, eff. September 1, 2005.
Amended by:
Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 734 (H.B. 1549), Sec. 14, eff. September 1, 2015.
Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 746 (S.B. 1304), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2017.
Source

Last accessed
Jun. 7, 2021

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