Alabama law enforcement agencies unveil new victim notification system

Justice scales, books and wooden gavel.

Multiple law enforcement agencies Wednesday unveiled a revamped victim notification system allowing people to get notices of parole hearings and pending releases for those convicted of violent crimes.

“We want the public to know about this project, and for victims and interested parties to sign up in the victim notification system,” said Darlene Hutchinson Biehl, one of the commissioners that oversees the Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Commission.

The new system launched earlier this month in what officials called a “soft opening” that allowed nearly 2,000 people in the state to use the newly developed website and enroll to be notified.

The Automated Victim Notification System and Implementation Task Force was established by the Legislature in 2011 after passing a bill by former Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster,  now in charge of the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles.

“It has been a long time coming,” Ward said. “This has been worked on for several years, and I am proud to see the collaboration between multiple state agencies in accomplishing this goal. For too long, too many victims have been forgotten about in the criminal justice system. This is an opportunity to make sure their voices are heard.”

The revamped model syncs information about people convicted of an offense from the Alabama Department of Corrections, Pardons and Paroles as well as the court.

In 2015, legislators passed a bill that granted early release for some who have been incarcerated based on different levels according to time served. Those sentenced to no more than 5 years in prison could be released between 3 and 5 months before their scheduled release date, while those who were sentenced to more than 10 years in prison could be released between 10 to 12 months before they were to be released.

The bill sought to strike a balance between public safety and the problems of prison overcrowding. People would be released early, but be subject to monitoring and parole requirements, and forbidden to own firearms. Sex offenders did not qualify for early release.

The 2015 bill applied to only future sentences, and lawmakers passed a 2021 bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Hill, R-Odenville, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to make the 2015 retroactive.

Many people incarcerated were not released in a timely manner after the Alabama Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit against the ADOC Commissioner John Hamm seeking to delay early release until victims could be notified.

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, was frustrated that DOC had more than a year to notify victims but didn’t.

“As far as deciding blame, honestly, the system itself is broken,” he said in February 2023. “To assign blame to individuals who were handed a responsibility that they couldn’t do because they were not given the tools to do it, it is probably shortsighted.”

DOC Counsel Mary-Coleman Roberts said a short time afterwards that Corrections was not to blame for the delay.

“The victim notification system that was contemplated under the victim notification statute was supposed to be developed by Alabama Law Enforcement Agency,” she said. “It was never developed.”

People can sign up for the notifications by visiting the website. They will be instructed to provide their credentials, search for the individual who has been incarcerated, and sign up to be notified.

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