Section 55.1. Policy

(a) The General Assembly has declared its intention to protect the safety and general welfare of the people of this Commonwealth by providing for registration and community notification regarding sexually violent predators who are about to be released from custody and will live in or near their neighborhood.

(b) The General Assembly further declared it to be the policy of the Commonwealth to require the exchange of relevant information about sexually violent predators among public agencies and officials and to authorize the release of necessary and relevant information about sexually violent predators to members of the general public as a means of assuring public protection and that the same is not be construed as punitive.

(c) The General Assembly has determined and declared as a matter of Legislative finding that the release of information about sexually violent predators to public agencies and the general public will further the governmental interests of public safety and public scrutiny of the criminal and mental health systems so long as the information is rationally related to the furtherance of those goals.

(d) Information gathered under 42 Pa.C.S. Chapter 97, Subchapter H (relating to registration of sexual offenders), will not be disclosed outside the established criminal justice system, except as allowed by law.