BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1200 Hearing Date: April 12, 2016
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|Author: |Jackson |
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|Version: |April 4, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|JRD |
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Subject: Peace Officer Standards and Training: Domestic
Violence: Animal Cruelty
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation:None known
Support: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals; Animal Legal Defense Fund; Animal Welfare
Institute; Association of Prosecuting Attorneys; The
Humane Society of the United States; LIUNA Locals 777
and 792; Marin Humane Society; Office of District
Attorney, County of Santa Barbara; San Diego Humane
Society & SPCA; San Francisco SPCA; Social Compassion
in Legislation; one individual
Opposition: None known
PURPOSE
The purpose of this legislation is to require: (1) the Board of
State and Community Corrections (BSCC) to include a requirement
for the training of probation officers on domestic violence that
includes, but not be limited to, training on the nexus between
animal cruelty and violence against persons; and, (2) that the
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annual report published by the Department of Justice (DOJ)
include information concerning arrests for violations of Penal
Code section 597.
Existing law states that, for the purpose of raising the level
of competence of local corrections and probation officers and
other correctional personnel, the BSCC must adopt, and may from
time to time amend, rules establishing minimum standards for the
selection and training of these personnel employed by any city,
county, or city and county who provide for the custody,
supervision, treatment, or rehabilitation of persons accused of,
or adjudged responsible for, criminal or delinquent conduct who
are currently under local jurisdiction. (Penal Code § 6035(a).)
Existing law provides that any city, county, or city and county
may adhere to the standards for selection and training
established by BSCC. Minimum training standards may include,
but are not limited to, basic, entry, continuation, supervisory,
management, and specialized assignments. (Penal Code § 6035(b).)
Existing law provides that, except as otherwise provided, the
following crimes are punishable a felony by imprisonment
pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170, or by a fine of not
more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both that
fine and imprisonment, or alternatively, as a misdemeanor by
imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by
a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by
both that fine and imprisonment:
Every person who maliciously and intentionally maims,
mutilates, tortures, or wounds a living animal, or
maliciously and intentionally kills an animal
Every person who overdrives, overloads, drives when
overloaded, overworks, tortures, torments, deprives of
necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter, cruelly beats,
mutilates, or cruelly kills any animal, or causes or
procures any animal to be so overdriven, overloaded, driven
when overloaded, overworked, tortured, tormented, deprived
of necessary sustenance, drink, shelter, or to be cruelly
beaten, mutilated, or cruelly killed; and whoever, having
the charge or custody of any animal, either as owner or
otherwise, subjects any animal to needless suffering, or
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inflicts unnecessary cruelty upon the animal, or in any
manner abuses any animal, or fails to provide the animal
with proper food, drink, or shelter or protection from the
weather, or who drives, rides, or otherwise uses the animal
when unfit for labor.
Every person who maliciously and intentionally maims,
mutilates, or tortures any mammal, bird, reptile,
amphibian, or fish. And, each act of malicious and
intentional maiming, mutilating, or torturing a separate
specimen of a creature, described therein, is a separate
offense.
(Penal Code § 597.)
Existing law requires DOJ:
To collect data necessary for the work of the department
from all persons and agencies specified and from any other
appropriate source.
To prepare and distribute to all those persons and
agencies, 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.
To recommend the form and content of records which must
be kept by those persons and agencies in order to ensure
the correct reporting of data to the department.
To instruct those persons and agencies in the
installation, maintenance, and use of those records and in
the reporting of data therefrom to the department.
To process, tabulate, analyze and interpret the data
collected from those persons and agencies.
To supply, at their request, to federal bureaus or
departments engaged in the collection of national criminal
statistics data they need from this state.
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To present to the Governor, on or before July 1st, an
annual report containing the criminal statistics of the
preceding calendar year and to present at other times as
the Attorney General may approve reports on special aspects
of criminal statistics. A sufficient number of copies of
all reports shall be prepared to enable the Attorney
General to send a copy to all public officials in the state
dealing with criminals and to distribute them generally in
channels where they will add to the public enlightenment.
This bill provides that as part of the minimum standards for
training, the BSCC must include a requirement for the training
of probation officers on domestic violence that includes, but
not be limited to, training on the nexus between animal cruelty
and violence against persons.
This bill requires that the annual report published by DOJ
include information concerning arrests for violations of section
597.
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
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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
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 This Legislation
According to the author:
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In 2014 a man was arrested and later pleaded guilty to four
felony counts and one misdemeanor count, which included:
two felony charges of animal cruelty, felony assault by
force likely to produce great bodily injury, witness
dissuasion and violating a court order. The case involved
a man abusing his girlfriend and her five month old puppy.
The man broke several of the puppy's bones, sexually
mutilated and used a utility lighter to inflict burns on 80
percent of its body, for which the puppy was later
euthanized due to its injuries. The maximum sentence for
the crime was seven years and six months in state prison.
The judge sentenced him to a year in county jail and five
years on probation based on probation officers'
recommendations.
There is overwhelming evidence that [animal abuse] is
linked to crimes against people, including violent crimes
and domestic violence.<1> In a 2014 study of men arrested
for domestic assault, 41 percent had abused an animal at
least once as an adult - compared with only 1.5 percent of
men in the general population. A previous study showed
that women residing in domestic violence shelters were
nearly 11 times more likely to report their partner had
hurt or killed a pet than women who had never experienced
intimate partner violence. There is evidence that pet
abuse is an indicator of heightened danger, and possibly a
higher fatality rate, in intimate relationships plagued by
violence. A dozen independent studies report that between
18 and 48 percent of battered women have either delayed
leaving or returned to an abusive relationship in order to
protect their pets.<2>
So evident is the correlation between animal abuse and
violence to humans that in 2016 the FBI began collecting
data on animal cruelty in the same way as homicide, arson,
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<1> The Washington Post, A big win for animals: The FBI now
tracks animal abuse like it tracks homicides, (January 2015), at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/01/06/a
-big-win-for-animals-the-fbi-now-tracks-animal-abuse-like-it-trac
ks-homicides/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_daily202
<2> California Health Report, A perilous link: pet abuse and
domestic violence, (September 2015), at
http://www.calhealthreport.org/2015/09/27/18281-2/
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and assault via its National Incident-Based Reporting
System (NIBRS).<3>
2.Recent Events
As discussed in the author's statement, there was an animal
abuse incident in 2014 that precipitated this legislation:
On May 14, 2014, at 11:02 p.m., Santa Barbara Police
officer Josh Morton responded to a local veterinary
hospital to investigate a possible case of domestic
violence.
What he found would haunt the department, and community
members, for months to come.
The Case
The victims were a 5-month-old miniature pinscher puppy
named Davey and his owner.
Earlier that day, Duanying Chen, a Chinese immigrant who
was taking classes at Santa Barbara City College on a
student visa, agreed to watch Davey while his girlfriend
was out for the day.
When Chen's girlfriend came home around 8 p.m., however,
she found Davey hiding underneath a table, unable to walk,
according to reports.
Chen reportedly tried to convince her that the dog was
injured during a fall from the top of a ping pong table,
but after taking Davey to the hospital, the clinic staff
determined that the animal had multiple injuries - broken
bones, lacerations and burns, neurological damage, and
wounds to the rectum and genitals - consistent with having
been abused.
Further, upon questioning Chen's girlfriend, they suspected
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<3> Federal Bureau of Investigations, News Blog: Tracking Animal
Cruelty, (February 2016), at
https://www.fbi.gov/news/news_blog/tracking-animal-cruelty
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that she was the victim of domestic violence. The Santa
Barbara Police Department (SBPD) was subsequently notified,
and Davey was euthanized a few weeks later due to the
extreme level of abuse and the extent of his injuries.
"We don't often get these types of cases," said Sgt. Riley
Hardwood of the SBPD. "We deal with domestic violence all
of the time, but this isn't the type of case that happens
often."
"The combination of two things (animal abuse and domestic
violence) is pretty alarming, and a lot of people would say
that's indication of violence in the future," he continued.
On May 20, 2014, Chen was arrested for allegedly strangling
his girlfriend during a fight and beating, torturing,
sexually assaulting and burning Davey.
The Sentence
In Chen's case, many believe the punishment did not fit the
crime.
On May 19, Chen pleaded guilty to four felony counts and
one misdemeanor count, including two felony charges of
animal cruelty, felony assault by force likely to produce
great bodily injury, witness dissuasion and violating a
court order, according to Santa Barbara County District
Attorney Joyce Dudley.
Although the case prosecutor argued for the maximum
sentence of seven years and six months in state prison, on
June 30 Superior Court Judge Brian Hill ordered Chen to
serve one year in county jail with five years of probation.
(Protestors to hold march for abused puppy at SB
Courthouse, by Jamie Guista, Santra Maria Times, July 18,
2015;
http://santamariatimes.com/news/protestors-to-hold-march-for
-abused-puppy-at-sb-courthouse/article_5772b345-4bcc-5cf1-95
da-83f96c29cd 1e.html.)
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3. Effect of This Legislation
This legislation seeks to educate probation officers and inform
the public on the correlation between animal abuse and domestic
violence. To this end, it would require the BSCC, when
establishing minimum training standards for probation officers,
to include training on domestic violence and the link between
domestic violence and animal cruelty. This legislation would,
additionally, require DOJ to include annual cruelty in their
annual crime report.
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