Physical, Mental, or Sexual Abuse of a Minor for SBM Purposes

by School of Government faculty member Jamie Markham In an earlier post I wrote about the satellite-based monitoring (SBM) effective-date question resolved by the court of appeals in State v. Cowan. To paraphrase Inigo Montoya, let me sum up:  August 16, 2006 is the effective date that matters for SBM. Today, I want to come back around to another issue discussed (but not finally resolved) in Cowan:  what is an offense that “involved the physical, mental, or sexual abuse of a minor,” and what should the court look at to determine whether an offender committed one? To recap the general facts of the case, Mr. Cowan pled guilty to solicitation to commit indecent liberties with a child for sexual acts involving a four-year-old girl. At his G.S. 14-208.40B SBM determination hearing, the court ruled that he was not a sexually violent predator, not a recidivist, and not an aggravated offender, and that he had not been convicted of rape or sexual offense of a child by an adult offender under G.S. 14-27.2A or -27.4A. Thus, he did not fall in any of the categories that trigger mandatory lifetime enrollment in SBM. The court did, however, decide that Cowan had committed an offense that “involved the physical, mental, or sexual abuse of a minor,” and that based on a DOC risk assessment (his Static-99 scored out “High”) he required the highest possible level of supervision and monitoring. As a result, the judge ordered him to enroll in SBM for a period specified [...]