BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair S
2013-2014 Regular Session B
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6
SB 1066 (Galgiani) 6
As Amended April 3, 2014
Hearing date: April 29, 2014
Education; Family; Government; and Penal Codes
JRD:mc
MISSING OR UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation: SB 1736 (Rainey) - Chapter 284, Statutes of
2000
Support: Unknown
Opposition:None known
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD SEVERAL AMENDMENTS BE MADE TO THE CODE SECTIONS RELATING TO
MISSING AND UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS, AS SPECIFIED?
PURPOSE
This legislation makes numerous changes to the code sections
relating to missing and unidentified persons by: (1) requiring
medical examiners and other agencies responsible for a
postmortem exam or autopsy to follow certain procedures when
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conducting an autopsy on an unidentified person; (2) requiring
reports to the Department of Justice (DOJ) be done on the
department's Unidentified Deceased Person Reporting form, as
specified; (3) expanding requirements relating to reports to the
Department of Justice by local law enforcement, as specified;
(4) requiring that the final report of investigation include any
homicide report, anthropology report, fingerprints, photographs,
and autopsy report; (5) expanding the Department of Justice
computer internet directory of information to include at-risk
missing persons and unidentified persons, as specified; (6)
requiring a "Be On the Look-out" bulletin for any missing person
under 21 years of age; (7) requiring local law enforcement to
electronically report to DOJ within two hours, as specified; (8)
making the Attorney General's Office's database the statewide
database for x-rays, and would require the Attorney General's
Office to forward the information to the National Crime
Information Center; and (9) making technical and conforming
changes to the code sections relating to missing and
unidentified persons.
Autopsies of an Unidentified Body or Human Remains
Existing law requires, in cases involving an unidentified body
or human remains, a postmortem examination or autopsy be
conducted in accordance with the following procedures:
Taking of all available fingerprints and palms prints.
A dental examination consisting of dental charts and
dental X-rays of the deceased person's teeth, which may be
conducted on the body or human remains by a qualified
dentist.
The collection of tissue, including a hair sample, or
body fluid samples for future DNA testing, if necessary.
Frontal and lateral facial photographs with the scale
indicated.
Notation and photographs, with a scale, of significant
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scars, marks, tattoos, clothing items, or other personal
effects found with or near the body.
Notations of observations pertinent to the estimation of
the time of death.
Precise documentation of the location of the remains.
The coroner is required to prepare a final report of
investigation in a format established by the Department of
Justice. (Government Code § 27521.)
Existing law requires the coroner to retain the jaws and other
tissue samples of the deceased person for one year after a
positive identification is made, and no civil or criminal
challenges are pending, or indefinitely. (Government Code §
27521.)
This bill applies these provisions to medical examiners and any
other agency responsible for a postmortem exam or autopsy.
Law Enforcement Investigation of Unidentified Person
Current law requires a law enforcement agency investigating the
death of an unidentified person to report the death to the
Department of Justice no later than 10 calendar days after the
date the body or human remains were discovered. (Government
Code § 27521.1.)
Under existing law , if the coroner is unable to establish the
identity of the body or human remains, the coroner is required
to submit dental charts and dental X-rays of the unidentified
deceased person to the Department of Justice within 45 days of
the date the body or human remains were discovered. (Government
Code § 27521.)
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Under existing law , if the coroner is unable to establish the
identity of the body or human remains, the coroner is required
to submit the final report of investigation to the Department of
Justice within 180 days of the date the body or human remains
were discovered. (Government Code § 27521.)
This bill would require a police department, sheriff's office,
coroner, medical examiner, or other law enforcement agency
investigation the death of an unidentified person, when
investigating the death of an unidentified person, to report to
the Department of Justice no later than 10 calendar days from
the date of discovery, using the department's Unidentified
Deceased Person Reporting form.
This bill expands the requirement that a coroner submit dental
charts and dental X-rays of an unidentified deceased person to
the Department of Justice on forms supplied by the Department of
Justice within 45 days of the date the body or human remains
were discovered to also require a police department, sheriff's
office, coroner, medical examiner, or other law enforcement
agency investigation the death of an unidentified person.
This bill expands the requirement that a coroner submit the
final report of investigation to the Department of Justice
within 180 days of the date the body or human remains were
discovered to also require a police department, sheriff's
office, coroner, medical examiner, or other law enforcement
agency investigation the death of an unidentified person.
This bill requires that the final report of investigation
include any homicide report, anthropology report, fingerprints,
photographs, and autopsy report.
Victim Crime Information Center
Current law requires the Attorney General to maintain the
Violent Crime Information Center to assist in the identification
and the apprehension of persons responsible for specific violent
crimes and for the disappearance and exploitation of persons,
particularly children and dependent adults. The center is
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required to, among other things, assist local law enforcement
agencies and county district attorneys by providing
investigative information on persons responsible for specific
violent crimes and missing person cases. (Penal Code § 14200.)
Current law requires the Attorney General to establish and
maintain a computer system designed to effect an immediate law
enforcement response to reports of missing persons. This system
must include an active file of information concerning persons
reported to it as missing and who have not been reported as
found. The computer system is to be made available to law
enforcement agencies. However, the Attorney General shall not
release the information if the reporting agency requests the
Attorney General in writing not to release the information
because it would impair a criminal investigation. (Penal Code §
14201.)
Current law requires the Attorney General to establish and
maintain, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature, the
Violent Crime Information Network within the center to enable
the Department of Justice crime analysts with expertise in child
abuse, missing persons, child abductions, and sexual assaults to
electronically share their data, analysis, and findings on
violent crime cases with each other, and to electronically
provide law enforcement agencies with information to assist in
the identification, tracking, and apprehension of violent
offenders. The Violent Crime Information Network shall serve to
integrate existing state, federal, and civilian data bases into
a single comprehensive network. (Penal Code § 14201.1.)
Current law requires the Violent Crime Information Center to
make accessible to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons
System specific information authorized for dissemination and as
determined appropriate by the center that is contained in law
enforcement reports regarding missing or unidentified persons.
(Penal Code § 14201.3.)
Current law requires the Attorney General to establish the
Missing and Exploited Children's Recovery Network, an automated
computerized system that has the capability to electronically
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transmit to all state and local law enforcement agencies, and
all cooperating news media services, either by facsimile or
computer modem, a missing child poster that includes the name,
personal description data, and picture of the missing child.
(Penal Code § 14201.5.)
Current law requires the Department of Justice to establish and
maintain a publicly accessible computer internet directory of
information relating to the following:
Persons for whom an arrest warrant has been issued
pursuant to an alleged violation of any offense defined as
a violent felony in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5.
Critical missing children.
Unsolved homicides. (Penal Code § 14201.6.)
Current law requires the Attorney General to establish and
maintain an automated violent crime method of operation system
to facilitate the identification and apprehension of persons
responsible for murder, kidnap, including parental abduction,
false imprisonment, or sexual assault. This unit shall be
responsible for identifying perpetrators of violent felonies
collected from the center and analyzing and comparing data on
missing persons in order to determine possible leads which could
assist local law enforcement agencies. This unit shall only
release information about active investigations by police and
sheriffs' departments to local law enforcement agencies. (Penal
Code § 14202.)
Existing law requires the online missing persons registry to
accept and generate complete information on a mission person.
The Attorney General is required to develop the form in which
information shall be entered into the system. The Attorney
General is, additionally, required to establish and maintain
within the center a separate, confidential historic database
relating to missing children and dependent adults. The center
may supply information about specific cases from the historic
database to a local police department, sheriff's department, or
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district attorney, only in connection with an investigation by
the police department, sheriff's department, or district
attorney of a missing person case or a violation or attempted
violation of Section 220, 261.5, 262, 273a, 273d, or 273.5, or
any sex offense listed in Section 290, except for the offense
specified in subdivision (d) of Section 243.4. (Penal Code §
14203.)
Existing law requires the Attorney General to provide training
on the services provided by the center to line personnel,
supervisors, and investigators in the following fields: law
enforcement, district attorneys' offices, the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, probation departments, court
mediation services, and the judiciary. (Penal Code § 14204.)
Current law requires all local police and sheriffs' departments
to accept any report, including any telephonic report, of a
missing person, including runaways. Local police and sheriffs'
department are required to give priority to the handling of
these reports over the handling of reports relating to crimes
involving property. In cases where the person making a report
of a missing person or runaway, contacts the California Highway
Patrol, the California Highway Patrol may take the report, and
must immediately advise the person making the report of the name
and telephone number of the police or sheriff's department
having jurisdiction of the residence address of the missing
person and of the name and telephone number of the police or
sheriff's department having jurisdiction of the place where the
person was last seen. If the missing person is under 16 years
of age, or there is evidence that the person is at risk, the
department shall broadcast a "Be On the Look-Out" bulletin
within its jurisdiction. (Penal Code § 14205.)
Current law requires that if the person reported missing is
under 21 years of age, or if there is evidence that the person
is at risk, the law enforcement agency receiving the report
shall, within two hours after the receipt of the report,
transmit the report to the Department of Justice for inclusion
in the Violent Crime Information Center and the National Crime
Information Center databases. (Penal Code § 14205.)
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Existing law requires that, in cases where the report is taken
by a department, other than that of the city or county of
residence of the missing person or runaway, the department, or
division of the California Highway Patrol taking the report
shall, without delay, and, in the case of children under 16
years of age or where there was evidence that the missing person
was at risk, within no more than 24 hours, notify, and forward a
copy of the report to the police or sheriff's department or
departments having jurisdiction of the residence address of the
missing person or runaway and of the place where the person was
last seen. (Penal Code § 14205.)
Current law requires local law enforcement, in cases where the
person reported missing is under 21 years of age, or if there is
evidence that the person is at risk, to report to DOJ within two
hours after receipt of the report. (Penal Code § 14205.)
Current law requires that when any person makes a report of a
missing person to a police department, sheriff's department,
district attorney's office, California Highway Patrol, or other
law enforcement agency, the report shall be given in person or
by mail in a format acceptable to the Attorney General. When
the person is found, the sheriff, chief of police, coroner or
medical examiner, or the law enforcement agency locating the
missing person are required to immediately report that
information to the Attorney General's office. (Penal Code §§
14206
and 14207.)
Current law requires the Department of Justice to operate a
statewide, toll-free telephone hotline 24 hours per day, seven
days per week to receive information regarding missing children
and dependent adults and relay this information to the
appropriate law enforcement authorities. The Department of
Justice must also select up to six children per month from the
missing children registry and produce posters with photographs
and information regarding these children, including the missing
children hotline telephone number and reward information. The
department shall make these posters available to parties as
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prescribed and as the department deems appropriate. (Penal Code
§ 14208.)
Current law requires the Department of Justice to provide
appropriate local reporting agencies with a list of persons
still listed as missing who are under 18 years of age, with an
appropriate waiver form in order to assist the reporting agency
in obtaining a photograph of each of the missing children.
Local reporting agencies must attempt to obtain the most recent
photograph available for persons still listed as missing and
forward those photographs to the Department of Justice. (Penal
Code § 14209.)
Current law defines a variety of terms relating to missing
persons. (Penal Code § 14213.)
Existing law requires the Department of Justice to make
accessible to law enforcement agencies, via a department
bulletin and the California Law Enforcement Web, the
commission's "Guidelines For Handling Missing Persons
Investigations" or any subsequent similar guidelines created by
the commission, relating to the investigation of missing
persons. (Penal Code § 13519.07.)
Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to adopt a
policy, regulations, or guidelines on missing persons
investigations that are consistent with state and federal law,
as well as a checklist document directing peace officers on
investigation guidelines and resources available to them in the
early hours of a missing person investigation, by January 1,
2012. By January 1, 2012, law enforcement agencies are required
to utilize, at a minimum, the department's missing person
reporting form for the initial contact with the parent or family
member reporting a missing person. (Penal Code § 13519.07.)
This bill would require the Department of Justice computer
internet directory of information to include at-risk missing
persons and unidentified persons.
This bill would require a "Be On the Look-Out" bulletin for any
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missing person under 21 years of age.
This bill would require, in cases where a report is taken by a
department, other than that of a city or county of residence of
the missing person or runaway, the department, or division of
the Department of California Highway Patrol taking the report
shall, without delay and in the case of persons under 21 year of
age, to notify local law enforcement within 24 hours.
This bill deletes reference to "dependent adult" throughout
Penal Code sections 14200, et seq.
This bill would require local law enforcement, in cases where
the person reported missing is under 21 years of age, or if
there is evidence that the person is at risk, to electronically
report to DOJ within two hours, as specified. Information not
available for electronic transmission must be obtained by the
investigation agency and provided as a supplement to the
original entry as soon as possible, but not later than 60 days
after the electronic entry. Supplemental information may
include: dental records; fingerprints; photographs; description
of physical characteristics; description of clothing; vehicle
information; and other information describing any person or
vehicle believed to be involved in taking, abducting or
retaining the missing person.
This bill makes the Attorney General's Office's database the
statewide database for x-rays, and would require the Attorney
General's Office to forward the information to the National
Crime Information Center.
This bill renumbers a number of code sections, makes conforming
cross-reference amendments and technical amendments.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation
relating to conditions of confinement. On May 23, 2011, the
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United States Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its
prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two
years from the date of its ruling, subject to the right of the
state to seek modifications in appropriate circumstances.
Beginning in early 2007, Senate leadership initiated a policy to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate the
prison overcrowding crisis through new or expanded felony
prosecutions. Under the resulting policy, known as "ROCA"
(which stands for "Receivership/ Overcrowding Crisis
Aggravation"), the Committee held measures that created a new
felony, expanded the scope or penalty of an existing felony, or
otherwise increased the application of a felony in a manner
which could exacerbate the prison overcrowding crisis. Under
these principles, ROCA was applied as a content-neutral,
provisional measure necessary to ensure that the Legislature did
not erode progress towards reducing prison overcrowding by
passing legislation, which would increase the prison population.
In January of 2013, just over a year after the enactment of the
historic Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011, the State of
California filed court documents seeking to vacate or modify the
federal court order requiring the state to reduce its prison
population to 137.5 percent of design capacity. The State
submitted that the, ". . . population in the State's 33 prisons
has been reduced by over 24,000 inmates since October 2011 when
public safety realignment went into effect, by more than 36,000
inmates compared to the 2008 population . . . , and by nearly
42,000 inmates since 2006 . . . ." Plaintiffs opposed the
state's motion, arguing that, "California prisons, which
currently average 150% of capacity, and reach as high as 185% of
capacity at one prison, continue to deliver health care that is
constitutionally deficient." In an order dated January 29,
2013, the federal court granted the state a six-month extension
to achieve the 137.5 % inmate population cap by December 31,
2013.
The Three-Judge Court then ordered, on April 11, 2013, the state
of California to "immediately take all steps necessary to comply
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with this Court's . . . Order . . . requiring defendants to
reduce overall prison population to 137.5% design capacity by
December 31, 2013." On September 16, 2013, the State asked the
Court to extend that deadline to December 31, 2016. In
response, the Court extended the deadline first to January 27,
2014 and then February 24, 2014, and ordered the parties to
enter into a meet-and-confer process to "explore how defendants
can comply with this Court's June 20, 2013 Order, including
means and dates by which such compliance can be expedited or
accomplished and how this Court can ensure a durable solution to
the prison crowding problem."
The parties were not able to reach an agreement during the
meet-and-confer process. As a result, the Court ordered
briefing on the State's requested extension and, on February 10,
2014, issued an order extending the deadline to reduce the
in-state adult institution population to 137.5% design capacity
to February 28, 2016. The order requires the state to meet the
following interim and final population reduction benchmarks:
143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014;
141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and
137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016.
If a benchmark is missed the Compliance Officer (a position
created by the February 10, 2016 order) can order the release of
inmates to bring the State into compliance with that benchmark.
In a status report to the Court dated February 18, 2014, the
state reported that as of February 12, 2014, California's 33
prisons were at 144.3 percent capacity, with 117,686 inmates.
8,768 inmates were housed in out-of-state facilities.
The ongoing prison overcrowding litigation indicates that prison
capacity and related issues concerning conditions of confinement
remain unresolved. While real gains in reducing the prison
population have been made, even greater reductions may be
required to meet the orders of the federal court. Therefore,
the Committee's consideration of ROCA bills -bills that may
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impact the prison population - will be informed by the following
questions:
Whether a measure erodes realignment and impacts the
prison population;
Whether a measure addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there
is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
Whether a bill corrects a constitutional infirmity or
legislative drafting error;
Whether a measure proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy; and,
Whether a bill addresses a major area of public safety
or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy.
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COMMENTS
1. Need for This Bill
According to the author:
This bill is clarifying and technical in nature and
cleans up and renumbers penal codes regarding missing
persons. This bill would extend requirements that are
applicable to missing persons under 16 years of age to
missing persons under 21 years of age. The bill
expands responsibilities and applies provisions in
current law to a police department, sheriff's office,
medical examiner or other law enforcement agency
investigating the death of an unidentified person.
The bill also requires the DOJ to serve as a statewide
repository for final reports of investigation and to
maintain dental records. Existing law requires the
Department of Justice to establish and maintain a
publicly accessible computer Internet directory of
information relating to, among other things, missing
children who are "at risk," and unsolved homicides.
This bill would expand those provisions to include
persons who are at risk, and unidentified persons.
2. Effect of This Legislation
As detailed above, this bill would make several technical
amendments to the code sections relating to missing and
unidentified persons. The bill's most substantive
amendments appear to be:
Under existing law, law enforcement is required to
issue a "Be On the Look-Out" bulletin for any missing
person under 16 years of age-this legislation would
require a bulleting be issued for any missing person
under 21 years of age.
The Department of Justice is currently required to
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maintain a publicly accessible computer internet
directory of information relating to: (1) Persons for
whom an arrest warrant has been issued pursuant to an
alleged violation of any offense defined as a violent
felony in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5; (2) Critical
missing children; and, (3) Unsolved homicides. This bill
would expand this to include at-risk missing persons and
unidentified persons.
In any case where the person reported missing is
under 21 years of age, or is at risk, the law enforcement
agency is currently required to report to the Department
of Justice within two hours after the receipt of the
report. This legislation would require that the
information be reported electronically and that any
information not immediately available for electronic
transmission be provided as a supplement to the
Department of Justice.
Members may wish to discuss any incidents and observations as to
the necessity of these changes and how these changes might
enhance the state's ability to find missing person and
identified unidentified persons.
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