Bill Description: Senate Bill 1232 would repeal and replace Idaho’s “Son of Sam Law,” which directs proceeds paid to an offender to victims of their crimes.
Rating: +1
Amendment Note: The Senate Amendment to Senate Bill 1232 changed some definitions and made other adjustments, but it does not change the rating or substantively change the analysis.
Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the United States Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?
Senate Bill 1232 would repeal Section 19-5301, Idaho Code, and replace it with Chapter 63, Title 19, Idaho Code. While both the repealed section and its proposed replacement address the same issue, there are some notable differences and improvements.
The core of the law remains the same. Proceeds derived from the notoriety of the crime are paid into an escrow account that is made available to victims of the offender’s crime.
While parts of the current law apply to anyone “accused of a crime in this state,” the new language more appropriately defines an “offender” as “a person convicted of a criminal offense in this state.”
The new language also clarifies that the law applies to “money, royalties, or other thing of value received by an offender that is derived from the criminal notoriety of a crime, regardless of the medium or form in which the proceeds are generated”; but not to “payments for legal services; works of art or fiction that only briefly mention the crime; regular wages or income not related to the crime; money earned before the crime was committed; or news or documentary works created mainly to inform or educate and where the offender is paid only normal interview fees.” This language is more precise than the current law.
The new law would also explicitly clarify First Amendment protections, stating, “Nothing in this chapter shall be interpreted as restricting or censoring freedom of speech. The provisions of this chapter shall apply only to money made from the publicity of a crime, not to the content of expression itself.”
It further says, “The provisions of this chapter shall be construed narrowly to comply with the first amendment to the constitution of the United States and section 9, article I of the constitution of the state of Idaho.”
(+1)
