BILL ANALYSIS
AB 383
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Date of Hearing: April 22, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 383 (Lieu) - As Introduced: February 23, 2009
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill increases, from two to five years, the time frame in
which DNA evidence (rape kits) must be tested in order to
preserve the statute of limitations in sex offense cases.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Unknown annual GF costs to the extent this bill results in
convictions and state prison terms that would not otherwise be
achieved within the timeframe required by current law. If this
bill results in just two annual convictions with an average of
four years served, the annual cost would be about $350,000 in
four years.
2)Unknown nonreimbursable local costs, potentially in the low
millions of dollars, to the extent this bill allows local
crime labs to analyze DNA evidence that might otherwise have
not been tested due to the two-year time limitation. L.A.
County alone has a backlog of about 12,000 kits. At a cost of
about $2,500 per rape kit analysis, every 1,000 kits tested
represents a cost of about $2.5 million.
3)Potential GF costs to the CA Department of Justice (DOJ),
which provides DNA lab services for 47 counties. While DOJ is
meeting the two- year analysis requirement, budget cuts could
create a backlog that would necessitate an extension of the
current two- year period.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . According to proponents, including the L.A.
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Sheriff's Department and the L.A. District Attorney's Office,
one of the biggest problems facing the criminal justice system
today is the substantial backlog of unanalyzed DNA samples and
biological evidence from crime scenes, especially in sexual
assault cases. A recent L.A. City Auditor's report revealed
thousands of rape kits awaiting DNA processing in LAPD
evidence lockers. Timely analysis of these samples and
placement into a DNA database can avert tragic results.
Currently, there are over 12,000 sexual assault rape kits
awaiting DNA processing in Los Angeles County alone. By
extending - from two years to five years - the time period in
which law enforcement agencies have to analyze biological
evidence collected in sexual assault cases, AB 383 ensures
that rape kits are processed and all biological evidence
collected in connection with the offense is analyzed for DNA
type and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
DNA evidence collected from a crime scene can implicate or
eliminate a suspect, similar to the use of fingerprints. It
also can analyze unidentified remains through comparisons with
DNA from relatives. Additionally, when evidence from one crime
scene is compared with evidence from another using CODIS,
those crime scenes can be linked to the same perpetrator
locally, statewide, and nationally. When biological evidence
is collected and stored properly, DNA can be found on evidence
that is decades old. Therefore, old cases previously thought
unsolvable may contain valuable DNA evidence capable of
identifying the perpetrator.
2)Current law allows a criminal complaint to be filed within one
year of the date on which the identity of the suspect is
conclusively established by DNA testing if the following
conditions are met:
a) The alleged offense is a registerable sex offense, and
b) The offense was committed before Jan. 1, 2001 and DNA
evidence is analyzed no later than January 1, 2004; or the
offense was committed after Jan. 1, 2001 and DNA is
analyzed no later than two years from the date of the
offense.
3)Statutes of limitations for sex offenses depend on
circumstances and offense. A criminal complaint may be filed
within one year of the date of a report to law enforcement by
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any person who, while under the age of 18, was the victim of
rape, sodomy, child molestation, forcible oral copulation,
continuous sexual abuse of a child, sexual penetration and
fleeing the state with the intent to avoid prosecution for a
specified sex offense. However, the existing statute of
limitations must have expired, the crime must have involved
substantial sexual conduct and there must be independent
evidence to corroborate the victim's allegations. If the
victim is 21 years of age or older at the time of the report,
the independent evidence must clearly and convincingly
corroborate the victim's allegations. A criminal complaint
may also be filed for the above-mentioned sex offenses any
time before the victim's 28th birthday when the offense is
alleged to have occurred when the victim was under the age of
18. Also any prosecution for a felony registerable sex offense
may begin 10 years after the date of commission.
4)The rationale for statutes of limitations . Statutes of
limitations ensure that prosecutions are based upon reasonably
fresh evidence, as over time memories fade, witnesses die or
move, and physical evidence becomes more difficult to obtain.
Statutes of limitations also encourage law enforcement
officials to investigate suspected criminal activity in a
timely fashion. In short, the possibility of erroneous
conviction or acquittal is minimized when prosecution is
prompt.
5)Prior Legislation : AB 718 (Fuller), of the 2007-08 Legislative
Session, would have deleted the time frame in which DNA
evidence must be tested after it is collected in order to
preserve the statute of limitations in sex offense cases, as
specified. AB 718 was held on this committee's Suspense File
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081