BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 498 (Hancock) - Criminal statistics: juveniles
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|Version: April 13, 2015 |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 7 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 4, 2015 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 498 would require the Department of Justice (DOJ) to
collect and publicly report via its website additional data
regarding juvenile offenders, including county level
information, as specified.
Fiscal
Impact:
Automation : One-time costs potentially in excess of $1
million dollars (General Fund) to the extent the development
of a new database is required to accommodate the
interoperability between existing adult and juvenile data
reporting systems. It is unknown at this time whether the
necessary enhancements could feasibly be completed within the
timeframe required to meet the reporting dates specified.
Local agency reporting : Potentially significant ongoing local
agency costs (Local) in the hundreds of thousands of dollars
per year statewide for probation departments to compile and
report new data elements to the DOJ.
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CDCR data : Minor one-time costs (General Fund) for the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to create
an initial report to DOJ. Negligible ongoing costs.
Background: Existing law requires the AG to present an annual report to
the Governor on or before July 1st containing criminal
statistics of the preceding calendar year and to present at
other times as the AG may approve reports on special aspects of
criminal statistics. (Penal Code (PC) § 13010(g).)
The DOJ is required to collect data pertaining to the juvenile
justice system for criminal history and statistical purposes to
assist in complying with the annual reporting requirement,
measuring the extent of juvenile delinquency, determining the
need for and effectiveness of relevant legislation, and
identifying long term trends in juvenile delinquency. (PC
§13010.5.)
Existing law requires the report to contain statistics showing
all of the following: (1) the amount and types of offenses; (2)
the personal and social characteristics of offenders; (3) 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; (4) 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, (5) the
number of citizens' complaints received by law enforcement. (PC
§ 13012.)
The annual report published by the DOJ is required to include
the following statewide information (PC § 13012.5.):
The annual number of fitness hearings held in the juvenile
courts and the outcomes of those hearings including orders to
remand to adult criminal court, cross-referenced with
information about the age, gender, ethnicity, and offense of
the minors whose cases are the subject of those fitness
hearings.
The annual number of minors whose cases are filed directly in
adult criminal court, cross-referenced with information about
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the age, gender, ethnicity, and offense of the minors whose
cases are filed directly to the adult criminal court.
The outcomes of cases involving minors who are prosecuted in
adult criminal courts, regardless of how adult court
jurisdiction was initiated, including whether the minor was
acquitted or convicted, or whether the case was dismissed and
returned to juvenile court, including sentencing outcomes,
cross-referenced with the age, gender, ethnicity, and offense
of the minors subject to these court actions.
This bill seeks to expand the information collected and reported
on juveniles and require the DOJ to provide the information in a
format that can be downloaded by the public.
Proposed Law:
This bill would expand DOJ collection and reporting
requirements, and data specifications related to juveniles, as
follows:
Expands data reporting to include "county level" information.
Requires data reporting to be reported "for each year."
Adds the requirement that the county of referral or county of
commitment be included in all data points currently and
proposed to be collected and reported.
Requires addition of the classification of cases filed
directly in adult criminal court according to the code section
under which the case was filed.
With respect to outcomes from adult court filings, provides
that data include sentencing outcomes, including receiving a
fine, a jail term, probation with jail, probation, an adult
prison term, or placement in the custody of the DJJ,
cross-referenced with whether the case was filed directly in
adult criminal court, as specified, or remanded to adult
criminal court by the juvenile court, the age at the time of
booking, gender, race or ethnic subgroup, county of booking,
and offense category resulting in conviction.
Requires the length of time spent in juvenile hall for minors
whose case was filed in adult criminal court and who were
released from juvenile hall, cross-referenced with whether the
case was filed directly in adult criminal court, as specified,
or remanded to adult criminal court by the juvenile court, the
age at the time of referral, gender, race or ethnic subgroup,
county of referral, and most serious offense at the time of
referral.
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Requires the number of minors 14 years of age or older at the
time of referral whose cases were filed in juvenile court for
offenses pursuant to WIC § 707(b), cross-referenced with
information about the age at the time of referral, gender,
race or ethnic subgroup, county of referral, most serious
offense at the time of referral, and the type of detention or
placement, including placement at home or with a relative, in
a non-secure county facility, in a secure county facility, in
another public facility, in another private facility, or in
the custody of the DJJ.
Adds to required data, using data submitted by the CDCR, the
total number of people who were under 21 years of age at the
time of their offenses who are currently committed to the
CDCR, cross-referenced with the age at the time of offense,
age at admission to CDCR, current age, gender, race or
ethnicity, county of commitment, most serious offense
resulting in conviction, and gang, weapon, or other sentencing
enhancements attached to the conviction of the individuals.
Adds to required data, using data submitted by the CDCR, the
number of people who were under 21 years of age at the time of
the offense and who were committed to the CDCR,
cross-referenced with the most serious offense resulting in
conviction and the sentence, including any gang, weapon, or
other sentencing enhancements that were attached,
cross-referenced with the person's age at the time of the
offense, age at admission to CDCR, current age, gender, race
or ethnic subgroup, and county of commitment.
Requires the DOJ annual report published to include the
information, as specified, beginning with the report due on July
1, 2017, for the preceding calendar year.
Requires the DOJ to post on its internet website all of the data
compiled to prepare the report "in a downloadable format"
beginning on July 1, 2017, for the preceding calendar year.
Prior
Legislation: SB 1198 (Hancock) 2014 was similar to this
measure. This bill was held on the Suspense File of this
committee.
SB 314 (Alpert) Chapter 468/2001 requires the DOJ report to
contain statistics on the administrative actions taken by
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various branches of law enforcement and the criminal 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, as specified, beginning with the report due on July 1,
2003.
AB 807 (Ammiano) 2013 would have required the DOJ to collect and
include in its annual report on criminal statistics additional
information related to complaints received by law enforcement
agencies and criminal convictions of peace officers, as
specified. This bill was held on the Suspense File of this
committee.
Staff
Comments: To the extent the development of a new database is required in
order for DOJ to meet the reporting requirements specified in
this bill, the DOJ could incur major one-time costs potentially
in excess of $1 million (General Fund). Given the complexity of
automation projects generally, it is unknown at this time
whether the necessary enhancements could feasibly be completed
within the timeframe required to meet the reporting dates
specified in the bill.
Local probation departments would potentially incur significant
new workload on an ongoing basis. For example, the bill requires
data on the length of time spent in juvenile hall for minors
whose case was filed in adult criminal court and who were
released from juvenile hall, cross-referenced with whether the
case was filed directly in adult criminal court, as specified,
or remanded to adult criminal court by the juvenile court, the
age at the time of referral, gender, race or ethnic subgroup,
county of referral, and most serious offense at the time of
referral. Local agencies have indicated the use of different
reporting systems for juveniles 18 -21 years old, so additional
workload would be required to review and pull data from juvenile
and adult reporting systems.
Staff notes that while DOJ is statutorily mandated to report the
specified data annually, to the extent local agencies are not
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mandated to report by the DOJ, it does not appear that local
agency expenditures would qualify as a reimbursable state
mandate.
The CDCR has indicated minor costs to create the initial report
to provide to DOJ on the number of individuals under age 21 at
the time of the offense who are committed to state prison, with
negligible ongoing costs to run the required report.
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