BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2524 Hearing Date: June 28, 2016
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|Author: |Irwin |
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|Version: |May 31, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|ML |
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Subject: OpenJustice Data Act of 2016
HISTORY
Source: California Attorney General Kamala Harris
Prior Legislation:SB 1075 (Runner), pending in Assembly Public
Safety
SB 1654 (Santiago), pending in Assembly
Appropriations Committee
AB 953 (Weber), Chapter 466, Statutes of 2015
AB 71 (Rodriguez), Chapter 462, Statutes of 2015
Support: Anti-Defamation League; Socrata
Opposition:None Known
Assembly Floor Vote: 78 - 0
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to require the Department of Justice
(DOJ) to make available to the public its mandatory criminal
justice statistics reports through the OpenJustice Web Portal,
which is to be updated at least quarterly. This bill also makes
conforming changes to existing provisions related to criminal
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statistics.
Existing law requires DOJ to annually interpret and present
crime statistics, required to be reported by law enforcement and
other agencies and information, to the Governor. (Penal Code,
§§ 13010, subd. (g), 13020.)
Existing law requires DOJ to interpret and present statistics
and information to the Legislature and to those in charge or
concerned with of the apprehension, prosecution, and treatment
of the criminals and delinquents. (Penal Code, § 13012(b).)
Existing law allows the Attorney General to issue special
reports on crime statistics. (Penal Code, § 13010, subd. (g).)
Existing law requires the Racial and Identity Profiling Board
(RIPA) to annually analyze and report to the Attorney General
statistics collected from law enforcement agencies regarding
citizen complaints. (Penal Code, § 13012, subds.(a) and (c).)
Existing law requires the Attorney General to make available a
sufficient number of copies of both the required annual report
on crime statistics and any special reports. (Pen. Code, §
13010, subd. (g).)
Existing law requires DOJ to prepare and distribute to any
person or agency required to submit crime statistics the cards,
forms, or electronic means used in reporting data to the
department. The cards, forms, or electronic means may, in
addition to other items, include items of information needed by
federal bureaus or departments engaged in the development of
national and uniform criminal statistics. (Penal Code, § 13010,
subd. (b).)
Existing law requires DOJ to periodically review the
requirements of units of government using criminal justice
statistics, and to make recommendations for changes it deems
necessary in the design of criminal justice statistics systems,
including new techniques of collection and processing made
possible by automation. (Pen. Code, § 13010, subd. (h).)
Existing law requires DOJ, beginning January 1, 2017, to issue
an annual summary of incidents reported by law enforcement
including:
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a) The shooting of a civilian by a peace officer;
b) The shooting of a peace officer by a civilian;
c) The use of force by a peace officer against a civilian
that results in serious bodily injury or death; and
d) The use of force by a civilian against a peace officer
that results in serious bodily injury or death; (Gov. Code,
§ 12525.2, subds. (a) and (c).)
Existing law requires DOJ's annual summary of shootings of and
by peace officers, and of use of force by or against peace
officers, to include the number and demographics of those
involved, if the civilian was armed, the type of force used, and
a description of the incident, as provided. (Gov. Code, §
12525.2, subds. (a), (b) and (c).)
Existing law requires DOJ to collect data pertaining to the
juvenile justice system for criminal history and statistical
purposes, including all of the following:
a) The amount and the types of offenses known to the public
authorities;
b) The personal and social characteristics of criminals and
delinquents;
c) The administrative actions taken by law enforcement,
judicial, penal, and correctional agencies or institutions,
including those in the juvenile justice system, in dealing
with criminals or delinquents;
d) The administrative actions taken by law enforcement,
prosecutorial, judicial, penal, and correctional agencies
including those in the juvenile justice system, in dealing
with minors who are the subject of a petition or hearing in
the juvenile court to transfer their case to the
jurisdiction of an adult criminal court or whose cases are
directly filed or otherwise initiated in an adult criminal
court; and
e) The total number of each of the following, disaggregated
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by individual law enforcement agency, including whether the
disposition of the complaints was sustained, not sustained,
exonerated or unfounded, as defined:
i) Citizen complaints received by law enforcement
agencies;
ii) Citizen complaints alleging criminal conduct of
either a felony or misdemeanor; and
iii) Citizen complaints alleging racial or identity
profiling, as defined. These statistics shall be
disaggregated by the specific type of racial or identity
profiling alleged, such as based on a consideration of
race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender
identity or expression, sexual orientation, or mental or
physical disability. (Pen. Code, §§ 832.5, 13012(a),
13519.4.)
Existing law requires the annual report published by DOJ to
include information concerning arrests for identity theft.
(Penal Code, §§ 530.5, 13010, 13012.6.)
Existing law requires DOJ to maintain a data set, updated
annually, that contains the number of crimes reported, number of
clearances and clearance rates in California as reported by
individual law enforcement agencies for required-to-be-reported
crimes. The data set shall be made available through a
prominently displayed hypertext link on the Department's
Internet Web site or through the Department's OpenJustice data
portal. (Penal Code, §§ 13012, 13013.)
Existing law requires DOJ to perform the following duties
concerning the investigation and prosecution of homicide cases:
a) Collect information on all persons who are the victims
of, and all persons who are charged with, homicide;
b) Adopt and distribute as a written form or by electronic
means to all state and governmental entities that are
responsible for the investigation and prosecution of
homicide cases forms that will include information to be
provided to the department; and
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c) Compile, collate, index, and maintain an electronic file
of the information regarding victims of and those charged
with homicide into a report available to the public.
(Penal Code, §13014.)
Existing law requires local law enforcement agencies to report
to DOJ, in a manner prescribed by the Attorney General, any
information that may be required relative to hate crimes so that
the Department can report, on or before July 1 of each year, the
Department's analysis to the Legislature. (Pen. Code, §§
422.55, 13023.)
This bill eliminates DOJ's requirement to annually present a
report on criminal justice statistics to the Governor and the
Legislature, but requires that a downloadable summary of this
information shall be annually prepared so that the Attorney
General may send a copy to the Governor and other entities.
This bill specifies that the provisions of this bill shall not
be construed to require more frequent reporting by local
agencies than what is required by any other law.
This bill requires DOJ to add prosecutorial administrative
actions to its criminal justice statistics collection and
summaries.
This bill states that, on or before January 1, 2021, it shall be
the duty of DOJ to transition all of California's crime data
from summary crime reporting to incident-based crime reporting,
through electronic means, in alignment with the federal National
Incident-Based Reporting System.
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This bill requires DOJ to evaluate, on an annual basis, the
probability of meeting the January 1, 2021, implementation
deadline and report its findings to the Legislature annually
through 2019.
This bill provides that local and state agencies that are unable
to meet this implementation deadline and that have committed to
transitioning to incident-based crime reporting shall
collaborate with DOJ to develop a transition plan with a
timeline for the transition.
This bill provides that local and state agencies that are unable
to meet this implementation deadline and that have committed to
transitioning to incident-based crime reporting shall
collaborate with DOJ to develop a transition plan with a
timeline for the transition.
This bill states that, commencing January 1, 2021, it shall be
the duty of DOJ to accept the collection of crime data from
local and state crime reporting agencies only through electronic
means.
This bill requires, commencing January 1, 2021, local and state
crime reporting agencies to submit crime data to DOJ only
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through electronic means.
This bill states that, on or before January 1, 2022, it shall be
the duty of DOJ to ensure that the statistical systems of DOJ
are electronic, allowing for criminal justice statistical data
to be updated more frequently than annually on the OpenJustice
Web portal.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the past several years this Committee has scrutinized
legislation referred to its jurisdiction for any potential
impact on prison overcrowding. Mindful of the United States
Supreme Court ruling and federal court orders relating to the
state's ability to provide a constitutional level of health care
to its inmate population and the related issue of prison
overcrowding, this Committee has applied its "ROCA" policy as a
content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that
the Legislature does not erode progress in reducing prison
overcrowding.
On February 10, 2014, the federal court ordered California to
reduce its in-state adult institution population to 137.5% of
design capacity by February 28, 2016, as follows:
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.
In December of 2015 the administration reported that as "of
December 9, 2015, 112,510 inmates were housed in the State's 34
adult institutions, which amounts to 136.0% of design bed
capacity, and 5,264 inmates were housed in out-of-state
facilities. The current population is 1,212 inmates below the
final court-ordered population benchmark of 137.5% of design bed
capacity, and has been under that benchmark since February
2015." (Defendants' December 2015 Status Report in Response to
February 10, 2014 Order, 2:90-cv-00520 KJM DAD PC, 3-Judge
Court, Coleman v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (fn. omitted).) One
year ago, 115,826 inmates were housed in the State's 34 adult
institutions, which amounted to 140.0% of design bed capacity,
and 8,864 inmates were housed in out-of-state facilities.
(Defendants' December 2014 Status Report in Response to February
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10, 2014 Order, 2:90-cv-00520 KJM DAD PC, 3-Judge Court, Coleman
v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (fn. omitted).)
While significant gains have been made in reducing the prison
population, the state must stabilize these advances and
demonstrate to the federal court that California has in place
the "durable solution" to prison overcrowding "consistently
demanded" by the court. (Opinion Re: Order Granting in Part and
Denying in Part Defendants' Request For Extension of December
31, 2013 Deadline, NO. 2:90-cv-0520 LKK DAD (PC), 3-Judge Court,
Coleman v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (2-10-14). The Committee's
consideration of bills that may impact the prison population
therefore will be informed by the following questions:
Whether a proposal erodes a measure which has contributed
to reducing the prison population;
Whether a proposal addresses a major area of public safety
or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy;
Whether a proposal addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there
is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
Whether a proposal corrects a constitutional problem or
legislative drafting error; and
Whether a proposal proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy.
COMMENTS
1. Need for Legislation
According to the author:
AB 2524 modernizes the state's publication of criminal justice
data by replacing references to DOJ's "annual report" in code
with a directive to release all public crime statistics into
the OpenJustice Web portal. This change would significantly
democratize access to data collected by the state, replacing
static print publications - relics of the pre-internet age -
with dynamic tools for Californians to perform their own
analysis of statistics significant to them. Whereas DOJ's
current crime reports often lack important context, such as
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demographic information or yearly trends, information viewed
through OpenJustice will provide a complete picture of
criminal justice for the public. AB 2524 also requires the
DOJ to update data on the website quarterly with new data that
is currently provided monthly from local law enforcement
agencies. The bill clarifies that these changes do not require
law enforcement agencies to report more frequently than
currently required.
AB 2524 would also modernize the way DOJ receives information
from local agencies. Currently, despite significant advances
in digital technologies, as much as 60% of local law
enforcement agencies provide their statistics to DOJ on paper
cards, which must be then re-entered by DOJ's Criminal Justice
Statistics Center. This bill would direct local law
enforcement to transition into providing their criminal
justice information electronically by January 1, 2021,
bringing this process into the 21st century and ensuring that
information compiled for public access is accurate,
economical, and timely. In 2021, the Federal Government will
implement the National Incident-Based Reporting System or
NIBRS in place of the current E-CARS system. AB 2524 aligns
the electronic submission requirement to match with the
rollout of NIBRS.
2. Background
Various provisions of the Government and Penal Codes require DOJ
to collect, analyze, and report on criminal justice statistics.
Each individual law enforcement agency must report criminal
justice statistics to DOJ so that the agency can both aggregate
the data to present a statewide overview and to present data on
each individual law enforcement agency. Currently, the agency's
statistics may be submitted by paper forms and cards. The
statistics which agencies are required to report include:
officer involved incidents with the demographics of the
individuals involved and a description of the incident, case
clearance rates, juvenile delinquency, the disposition of
civilian complaints, the demographics of victims and individuals
charged in homicides, the incidents and demographics targeted by
hate crimes, the incidents and demographics of "stop and frisk"
detentions, the incidents and demographics of potential
profiling incidents, and other data leading to the apprehension,
prosecution, and treatment of the criminals and delinquents.
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Separate provisions require DOJ to prepare a summary of these
criminal justice statistics every year in reports, mainly the
Crime in California report, to the Governor and the Legislature,
and otherwise make the data and reports available to the public.
This bill requires law enforcement agencies to submit their
statistics by electronic means only, and require DOJ to post the
raw statistics and their summaries quarterly -rather than
annually- on the OpenJustice Web Portal, which is easily
accessible by the Governor, the Legislature and the public.
3. Statement of Support
California Attorney General Kamala Harris stated, in part:
The OpenJustice Data Act would revolutionize the public's
access to information about the criminal justice system by
reinventing the Attorney General's traditional printed reports
as datasets within the OpenJustice Data portal. The bill will
enable Californians to review the statistical information most
important to them in context, using dynamic, interactive
tools, rather than rely on preselected, prepackaged summaries.
AB 2524 will truly democratize public safety data,
significantly strengthening trust in law enforcement.
AB 2524 will also modernize the way the state collects this
information from locals. Despite the continuing development of
digital technologies, as many as 60% of local agencies still
report their criminal justice statistics to DOJ on paper; this
bill will direct those agencies to submit electronically. By
transitioning to an entirely digital reporting process,
statewide data collection will be more efficient, accurate,
and considerate of the environment.
-- END -
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