BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  SB 569
          Author:   Lieu (D)
          Amended:  5/28/13
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE  :  7-0, 4/9/13
          AYES:  Hancock, Anderson, Block, De León, Knight, Liu, Steinberg

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  7-0, 5/23/13
          AYES:  De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg


           SUBJECT  :    Interrogation: electronic recordation

            SOURCE  :     American Civil Liberties Union
                       California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
                      California Public Defenders Association
                      Friends Committee on Legislation of California
                      Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety


           DIGEST  :    This bill requires the electronic recordation of  
          custodial interrogations of minors suspected of committing  
          specified offenses, and set forth exceptions and remedies to  
          that requirement.  

           ANALYSIS  :    The Fifth Amendment of the Federal Constitution  
          provides in pertinent part that "No person shall?be compelled in  
          any criminal case to be a witness against himself?."

          The U.S. Supreme Court in Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S.  
          436, held that the Fifth Amendment privilege may be invoked  
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          during a custodial interrogation. To protect the privilege, when  
          a suspect invokes the right to remain silent or the right to an  
          attorney, all questioning must cease.  The only exceptions to  
          this rule are to allow officers to question when reasonably  
          necessary to protect the public safety or to obtain  
          non-incriminating booking information.

          Existing law:

          1. Creates the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and  
             Training (POST) and provides that the commission shall adopt,  
             and may from time to time amend, rules establishing minimum  
             standards relating to physical, mental, and moral fitness  
             that shall govern the recruitment of peace officers. 

          2. Provides that POST shall prepare guidelines establishing  
             standard procedures which may be followed by police agencies  
             and prosecutors in interviewing minor witnesses.

          This bill:

          1. Provides that a custodial interrogation of a minor who is  
             suspected of committed a specified offense shall be  
             electronically recorded in its entirety.

          2. Provides that a statement that is electronically recorded as  
             required creates a rebuttable presumption that the  
             electronically recorded statement was, in fact, given and was  
             accurately recorded by the prosecution's witnesses, provided  
             the electronic recording was made of the custodial  
             interrogation in its entirety and the statement is otherwise  
             admissible.

          3. Provides that the requirement for the electronic recordation  
             of a custodial interrogation shall not apply under specified  
             circumstances

          4. Provides that if the prosecution relies on an exception to  
             justify a failure to make an electronic recording of a  
             custodial interrogation, the prosecution shall show by clear  
             and convincing evidence that the exception applies.

          5. Provides that the interrogating entity shall maintain the  
             original or an exact copy of an electronic recording made of  

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             an electronic recording made of a custodial interrogation  
             until a conviction for any offense relating to the  
             interrogation is final and all direct and habeas corpus  
             appeals are exhausted or the prosecution for that offense is  
             barred by law, or in a juvenile court proceeding, otherwise.   
             The interrogating entity may make one or more true, accurate,  
             and complete copies of the electronic recording in a  
             different format.

          6. Defines and makes a number of Legislative finding and  
             declarations

           Comments
           
          Videotaping of interrogations has emerged as a powerful  
          innovation and fact-finding tool for the criminal justice  
          system.  A central objective of the criminal justice system is  
          to accurately ascertain the facts surrounding criminal offenses  
          in order to correctly identify perpetrators so that they may be  
          punished.  The virtue of videotaping interrogations, and its  
          strength as a public policy, lies not only in its ability to  
          help guard against false confessions, but also in its ability to  
          develop the strongest evidence possible to help convict the  
          guilty.

          The ability to view such a permanent record is integral to the  
          subsequent assessment of the juvenile, his/her comprehension of  
          the Miranda warnings, and the nature, setting and circumstances  
          of the interrogation.

           Related legislation
           
          SB 1300 (Alquist, 2012) would have required the electronic  
          recordation of custodial interrogations of both adults and  
          minors suspected of serious or violent felonies.  The bill was  
          held on the Senate Appropriations Committee suspense file.

          SB 1590 (Alquist, 2008) would have required the electronic  
          recordation of any custodial interrogation of an individual  
          suspected of homicide or a violent felony.  The bill was held on  
          the Senate Appropriations Committee suspense file.

          SB 511 (Alquist, 2007) would have required custodial  
          interrogations of violent felony suspects to be electronically  

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          recorded.  This bill was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger with  
          the following message: 

             I am returning Senate Bill 511 without my signature.   
             While reducing the number of false confessions is a  
             laudable goal, I cannot support a measure that would deny  
             law enforcement the flexibility necessary to interrogate  
             suspects in homicide and violent felony cases when the  
             need to do so is not clear.  Police interrogations are  
             dynamic processes that require investigators to use  
             acumen, skill and experience to determine which methods of  
             interrogation are best for the situation.  This bill would  
             place unnecessary restrictions on police investigators. 

          SB 171 (Alquist, 2006) a similar bill, was also vetoed by the  
          Governor Schwarzenegger.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  Yes


          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:


             Increased annual court costs to consider the admissibility  
             of electronically recorded interrogations, or lack thereof,  
             of $2.6 million (General Fund*) for 20,600 petitions filed  
             under WIC Section 707(b) per year. 


             Potentially significant one-time and moderate annual ongoing  
             costs (General Fund*) for the Judicial Council to establish  
             and maintain a compliance monitoring system. Costs for the  
             development of forms and rules of court estimated at  
             $100,000, as well as increased workload for judges required  
             to complete/submit interrogation forms. 


             Potentially major reimbursable state-mandated local law  
             enforcement start-up costs in the hundreds of thousands to  
             millions of dollars (General Fund) to the extent electronic  
             recording equipment, storage, personnel, and facilities  
             improvement are required. 


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             Annual ongoing reimbursable state-mandated local law  
             enforcement costs potentially in the hundreds of thousands to  
             low millions of dollars (General Fund) for increased workload  
             associated with interrogation recordation and  
             completion/submittal of DOJ interrogation forms, as well as  
             equipment maintenance. 


             Potentially significant annual ongoing reimbursable  
             state-mandated local costs for district attorneys to complete  
             and submit interrogation forms developed by the Judicial  
             Council for specified cases. 


             Potential one-time significant costs (General Fund) for the  
             CDCR to purchase audio recording equipment. Annual ongoing  
             training and workload costs for recordation and  
             completion/submittal of interrogation forms. 


             Potential one-time costs of $170,000 (Motor Vehicle Account)  
             to the California Highway Patrol for audio recording  
             equipment. Minor annual costs for maintenance of equipment. 


             Potentially significant annual ongoing costs (General Fund)  
             for the DOJ to monitor compliance. One-time costs of  
             approximately $50,000 (General Fund) to develop forms. 

             Unknown, potentially substantial future trial court cost  
             savings (General Fund) to the extent mandated electronic  
             interrogation recording results in fewer false confessions,  
             expedited trials, and avoided litigation involving  
             interrogation issues. 

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  5/23/13)

           American Civil Liberties Union (co-source)
           California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (co-source)
          California Public Defenders Association (co-source)
          Friends Committee on Legislation of California (co-source)
          Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety (co-source)
          National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter

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           OPPOSITION  :    (Verified  5/23/13)

          Juvenile Court Judges of California 

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author's office, the  
          development of DNA technology and the subsequent exonerations of  
          nearly 200 innocent people have opened a window into the errors  
          in the criminal justice system that can lead to wrongful  
          convictions.  This was apparent in a national study conducted by  
          Professor Samuel Gross of the University of Michigan that  
          identified false confessions, extracted during police  
          questioning of suspects, as the second most frequent cause of  
          wrongful conviction.  As a result, it has become imperative that  
          we develop policies that enhance the fact-finding power of the  
          criminal justice system through procedures designed to present  
          the best quality of evidence possible in the courtroom.

          The reforms contained within this bill, specifically the  
          requirement to videotape the custodial interrogations of  
          juveniles for certain serious crimes, will improve criminal  
          investigation techniques, reduce the likelihood of wrongful  
          conviction, and further the cause of justice in California.

           ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION  :    Juvenile Court Judges of California  
          opposes this bill because of concerns that this bill's language  
          is cumbersome and that procedures to determine whether there was  
          a proper excuse for not recording the interview would delay  
          court proceedings.  
           

          JG:d  5/28/13   Senate Floor Analyses 

                           SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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