BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1118
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2015
Counsel: Gabriel Caswell
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Bill Quirk, Chair
AB
1118 (Bonta) - As Amended April 16, 2015
SUMMARY: Establishes a Procedural Justice Task Force (task
force) to be administered by the Board of State and Community
Corrections (BSCC) Specifically, this bill:
1)Establishes a Procedural Justice Task Force to be administered
by the BSCC and provides that the task of the task force is
the following:
a) To provide for grant funding, to be awarded to local law
enforcement departments for the purpose of implementing and
enhancing procedural justice training;
b) To provide for a matching grant program, whereby
philanthropic organizations may invest directly in
procedural justice training;
c) The task force shall manage the grant programs, monitor
implementation, and serve in an advisory capacity to sites
leading implementation; and
d) The task force shall bring together police departments
that are implementing procedural justice training, as well
as support the implementation and monitor the effectiveness
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of a community of practice plan to assist police
departments that have adopted procedural justice training.
2)Provides that the task force shall have the powers and
authority necessary to carry out the duties imposed upon it by
this section, including, but not limited to, all of the
following:
a) To employ any administrative, technical, or other
personnel necessary for the performance of its powers and
duties;
b) To hold hearings, make and sign any agreements, and to
do or perform any acts that may be necessary, desirable, or
proper to carry out the purposes of this section;
c) To cooperate with, and secure the cooperation of, any
department, division, board, bureau, commission, or other
agency of the state to facilitate the task force properly
to carry out its powers and duties;
d) To appoint advisers or advisory committees from time to
time when the task force determines that the experience or
expertise of the advisers or advisory committees is needed
for projects of the task force. Section 11009 of the
Government Code shall apply to these advisers or advisory
committees;
e) To accept any federal funds granted, by act of Congress
or by executive order, for all or any of the purposes of
this section; and
f) To accept any gift, donation, grant, or bequest for all
or any of the purposes of this section.
3)Provides that the task force shall be composed of 12 members.
The members shall elect one member to chair the task force.
The members of the task force shall include individuals
representing a cross-section of disciplines and entities, as
follows:
a) The Attorney General, or his or her designee;
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b) The President of the Peace Officers Research Association
of California, or his or her designee;
c) The President of the California Police Chiefs
Association, or his or her designee;
d) The President of the California State Sheriffs'
Association, or his or her designee;
e) The Executive Director of the Commission on Peace
Officers Standards and Training, or his or her designee;
f) The Chair of the Board of State and Community
Corrections, or his or her designee;
g) Two representatives from each of the following
categories, one of whom shall be appointed by the President
Pro Tempore of the Senate and one of whom shall be
appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly:
i) A university researcher or professor who specializes
in procedural justice, community-police relations,
implicit bias, or a similar law enforcement subject;
ii) A representative of a nonprofit civil rights
organization that specializes in civil or human rights
and criminal justice; and
iii) A community organizer who specializes in civil or
human rights and criminal justice.
4)Provides that the task force shall award grants to local law
enforcement agency applicants with a procedural justice
training program that meets, at a minimum, the following
requirements:
a) Establishes authentic partnerships with community-based
organizations, incorporates community partners in leading a
portion of the training and development of local law
enforcement policies and practices;
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b) Apportions funding for community partners to facilitate
training modules;
c) Addresses implicit bias;
d) Includes a contextualized module that addresses the
historical and generational effects of policing with
particular emphasis on communities of color;
e) Is implemented in multiple phases, including in the
academy, field training, and as ongoing standalone
training, particularly for mid-level officers and captains;
f) Includes performance reviews to test police officers'
competency in procedural justice, including evaluations
from supervising officers, peer evaluations, and community
surveys;
g) Includes the development of tools to continuously assess
course quality and determine whether the training is
changing officers' attitudes and practices;
h) Is tailored or customized to reflect community
priorities and departmental needs; and
i) In consultation with the task force, the commission
shall develop a model procedural justice training
curriculum, by an unspecified date. The task force and
commission shall work together to determine the appropriate
length and content of the course.
5)Makes the following findings and declarations:
a) Police training that addresses culture, diversity,
mental illness, youth development, and emphasizes mediation
skills, improves how police relate to the communities that
they serve and help minimize the use of force. The
Legislature acknowledges that procedural justice training
has emerged as a best practice for police departments to
build trust with community members and reduce
confrontation. Research suggests that when citizens see
the police as more objective, they are more likely to
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comply with police directives;
b) Procedural justice emphasizes treating community
residents with respect, and has gained traction as an
evidence-based and cost-effective way to reduce crime. As
a result, several law enforcement agencies throughout the
country have implemented procedural justice training into
their academies along with field training. Procedural
justice is based on the following core principles:
i) Fairness and consistency of rule application;
ii) Impartiality and unbiased decisionmaker neutrality;
iii) Citizen voice in decisionmaking; and
iv) Transparency and openness in process.
c) Police training programs should include content for
mitigating the impact of bias, identifying and properly
responding to people with mental illness, and instill the
principles and practices of procedural justice;
d) Procedural justice and police legitimacy training builds
the public's confidence in police departments, acceptance
of police authority, and the belief that officers are fair,
based on the application of the following four key
principles:
i) Treating people with dignity and respect;
ii) Making decisions fairly, based on facts, not
illegitimate factors such as race;
iii) Giving people a voice - a chance to tell their side
of the story; and
iv) Acting in a way that encourages community members to
believe that they will be treated with goodwill in the
future.
e) Law enforcement departments that employ such principles
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- supported by a wealth of research - experience higher
levels of public cooperation with police efforts to address
crime, increased compliance with the law, stronger public
support for police, and greater deference to police in
interactions with community members;
f) Procedural justice and police legitimacy university
experts have developed a proven curriculum that draws on
research in legitimacy, procedural justice, leadership and
adult learning theory, and has been successfully
implemented in cities throughout the nation, including in
Chicago, Oakland, Stockton, and Salinas;
g) The City of Oakland has advanced the field of procedural
justice and police legitimacy by having community partners
lead modules on the intersection of race and policing,
including the historical and generational effects of
policing, and community perspectives on policing;
h) The community training partnership was well received by
police officers in Oakland, who actively engage with the
community trainers, and fostered a set of community leaders
that act as critical champions who, for example, serve as
bridges to the community while continuing to press for
institutional change;
i) The cities of Oakland, Salinas, and Stockton are all
considering ongoing procedural justice and police
legitimacy training, including a combination of
scenario-based training and advanced procedural justice
training tailored to particular situations or roles in a
department;
j) Several police departments that have implemented
procedural justice and police legitimacy training are
planning on incorporating content on implicit racial bias
into future training; and
aa) In Oakland and Stockton, the departments' embrace of
procedural justice principles has provided a set of
unifying values and guiding principles that a group of
diverse partners regularly invoke as they implement
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evidence-based violence reduction strategies.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes, commencing July 1, 2012, BSCC and states that all
references to the Board of Corrections or the Corrections
Standards Authority shall refer to BSCC. (Pen. Code, § 6024,
subd. (a).)
2)States that the mission of BSCC shall include providing
statewide leadership, coordination, and technical assistance
to promote effective state and local efforts and partnerships
in California's adult and juvenile criminal justice system,
including addressing gang problems. This mission shall reflect
the principle of aligning fiscal policy and correctional
practices, including, but not limited to prevention,
intervention, suppression, supervision, and incapacitation, to
promote a justice investment strategy that fits each county
and is consistent with the integrated statewide goal of
improved public safety through cost-effective, promising, and
evidence-based strategies for managing criminal justice
populations. (Pen. Code, § 6024, subd. (b).)
3)Provides that it shall be the duty of BSCC to collect and
maintain available information and data about state and
community correctional policies, practices, capacities, and
needs, including, but not limited to, prevention,
intervention, suppression, supervision, and incapacitation, as
they relate to both adult corrections, juvenile justice, and
gang problems. The board shall seek to collect and make
publicly available up-to-date data and information reflecting
the impact of state and community correctional, juvenile
justice, and gang-related policies and practices enacted in
the state, as well as information and data concerning
promising and evidence-based practices from other
jurisdictions. (Pen. Code, § 6027, subd. (a).)
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4)Requires, commencing on and after July 1, 2012, BSCC, in
consultation with the Administrative Office of the Courts, the
California State Association of Counties, the California State
Sheriffs' Association, and the Chief Probation Officers of
California, shall support the development and implementation
of first phase baseline and ongoing data collection
instruments to reflect the local impact of Public Safety
Realignment, specifically related to dispositions for felony
offenders and postrelease community supervision. The board
shall make any data collected pursuant to this paragraph
available on the board's Internet Web site. It is the intent
of the Legislature that the board promote collaboration and
the reduction of duplication of data collection and reporting
efforts where possible. (Pen. Code, § 6027, subd. (b)(12).)
5)Authorizes BSCC to do either of the following:
a) Collect, evaluate, publish, and disseminate statistics
and other information on the condition and progress of
criminal justice in the state; or,
b) Perform other functions and duties as required by
federal acts, rules, regulations, or guidelines in acting
as the administrative office of the state planning agency
for distribution of federal grants. (Pen. Code, § 6027,
subd. (c).)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "Underlying
social, racial, and economic disparities have long created
rifts between law enforcement and the communities they are
sworn to protect. However, Fruitvale Station and Oscar Grant,
Ferguson and Michael Brown, and now North Charleston and
Walter Scott, all have exposed and brought to light these deep
rifts and reinforced the need to repair community-police
relations by moving beyond the status quo. With AB 1118, I
propose to improve community-police relations by implementing
and expanding the use of procedural justice in police
departments across California.
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"Procedural justice has four core tenets:
Respect: Treating people with dignity and respect;
Neutrality: Making decisions fairly, based on facts, not
illegitimate factors such as race;
Voice: Giving people a chance to tell their side of the
story; and
Trust: Acting in a way that encourages community members
to believe that they will be treated with goodwill in the
future.
"Procedural justice is already being used in Oakland,
Stockton, and Salinas, to reflect the unique needs of those
communities and change the culture within the police
departments. The training has been vetted in academic studies,
and within departments procedural justice has received largely
positive feedback from police chiefs to the rank-and-file.
"Oakland has a long history of distrust and violence, but
procedural justice is allowing law enforcement and the
community to come together and bridge those gaps, in order to
slow the cycle of violence and make the community whole."
1)Background of the BSCC: BSCC was established, commencing July
1, 2012, by SB 92 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review),
Chapter 36, Statutes of 2011. "From 2005 through 2012, BSCC
was the Correction Standards Authority, a division of CDCR.
Prior to that it was the Board of Corrections, an independent
state department. The BSCC is responsible for administering
various criminal justice grant programs and ensuring
compliance with state and federal standards in the operation
of local correctional facilities. It is also responsible for
providing technical assistance to local authorities and
collecting data related to the outcomes of criminal justice
policies and practices." (LAO, The 2013-14 Budget: The
Governor's Criminal Justice Proposals, p. 44 (Feb. 15, 2013).)
"In creating BSCC, the Legislature added two responsibilities to
the board's core mission: (1) assisting local entities to
adopt best practices to improve criminal justice outcomes and
(2) collecting and analyzing data related to criminal justice
outcomes in the state." (Id. at pp. 44-45.)
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2)Argument in Support: According to The California Police
Chiefs Association, "The California Police Chiefs Association
is proud to co-sponsor AB 1118 in concert with PolicyLink and
PICO CA. AB 1118 establishes a Procedural Justice Task Force,
administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections,
to implement and enhance procedural justice training for local
law enforcement agencies.
"The President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing (March,
2015) recently issued a number of recommendations for local
law enforcement adaptation. Recommendation 1.1 states that,
'Law enforcement culture should embrace a guardian mindset to
build public trust and legitimacy. Toward that end, police and
sheriffs' departments should adopt procedural justice as the
guiding principle for internal and external policies and
practices to guide their interactions with the citizens they
serve.' We adamantly support this recommendation.
"Procedural justice and police legitimacy training is a
critical step as part of a broader effort toward
organizational development, intended to improve the
relationship between police and communities they serve. The
training is based on four key principles: Treating people with
dignity and respect; Making decisions fairly, based on facts,
and not illegitimate factors such as race; Giving people a
voice, a chance to tell their side of the story; and, Acting
in a way that encourages community members to believe that
they will be treated with goodwill in the future.
"We strongly believe that AB 1118 will assist California law
enforcement agencies in both implementing this top-priority
recommendation from the President's Task Force on 21st Century
Policy March report and creating stronger ties with their
communities. Thank you for your leadership and partnership on
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this incredibly important issue."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Police Chiefs Association (Co-Sponsor)
PICO California (Co-Sponsor)
PolicyLink (Co-Sponsor)
Advancement Project
American Civil Liberties Union of California
Coalition for Police Accountability
Impact Justice
Oakland Community Organizations
United Food & Commercial Workers Union
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared
by: Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744