BILL NUMBER: AB 789	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Lieber

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2005

   An act to add Title 9 (commencing with Section 14100) to Part 4 of
the Penal Code, relating to disabled persons.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 789, as introduced, Lieber.   Crimes against individuals with
disabilities.
   Existing law requires each sheriff or police chief executive to
furnish specified information regarding crimes to the Department of
Justice.
   This bill would require each law enforcement agency, during the
next substantive revision of the local forms used to collect and
report criminal statistics to the department, but in no event later
than January 1, 2009, to modify the local forms to allow
identification of whether or not the victim of the crime has a
disability and, if so, whether the disability is psychiatric,
cognitive, or physical. It would require each law enforcement agency
to develop a protocol during criminal investigations to note in crime
reports whether or not the officer or officers investigating the
criminal activity identified the victim as disabled. By imposing new
requirements on local officials, the bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
   The bill would require the Attorney General to include specified
information regarding crime victims with disabilities in his or her
annual "Crime in California" report.

  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Title 9 (commencing with Section 14100) is added to
Part 4 of the  Penal Code , to read:

      TITLE 9.  Tracking and Reporting of Crimes Against Individuals
with Disabilities

   14100.  (a) Each law enforcement agency shall, during the next
substantive revision of the local forms used to collect and report
criminal statistics to the Department of Justice, but in no event
later than January 1, 2009, modify the local forms to allow
identification of whether or not the victim of the crime has a
disability and, if so, whether the disability is psychiatric,
cognitive, or physical.(b) Each law enforcement agency shall develop
a protocol during criminal investigations to note in crime reports
whether or not the officer or officers investigating the criminal
activity identified the victim as having a disability. The protocol
shall require that, if there is a doubt regarding the victim's
disability status, the officer ask the victim if he or she has a
disability and note the response. If the victim declines to answer
the officer, the disability status shall be reported as unknown.
   14101.  The Attorney General shall include in his or her annual
"Crime in California" report, at a minimum, the following information
based upon information submitted in compliance with Section 14100:
(a) The number of crimes that involve criminal victims with
disabilities.
   (b) The number of crime reports that involve crime victims with
disabilities by type of crime reported and by the three categories of
disability identified in subdivision (a) of Section 14100.
  SEC. 2.
  If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act
contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies
and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part
7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.