AB 1919, as amended, V. Manuel Pérez. Inmates: assessment.
Existing law generally requires felons to be incarcerated in state prison or county jails and generally requires those inmates to be supervised by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or county probation agencies upon release. Existing law authorizes a variety of programs for inmates who are on postrelease supervision, including parole, postrelease community supervision, and mandatory supervision.
This bill would encourage all actors in the criminal justice system to usebegin delete a validatedend deletebegin insert an evidence-basedend insert risk and needs assessment, as defined, to help make determinations at all stages of the judicial process, as prescribed.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 1210.17 is added to the Penal Code, 2immediately following Section 1210.16, to read:
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:
3(1) According to research by the Washington State Institute for
4Public Policy, combining supervision based on the risk level of an
5individual in the criminal justice system with evidence-based
6programming to address the specific needs of that individual yields
7the greatest reduction in recidivism rates.
8(2) According to a 2010 study, entitled “The Role of Offender
9Risk Assessment: A Policy Maker Guide,” the mismatch of higher
10supervision and inappropriate services can actually increase the
11recidivism rate of a low-risk individual, thereby decreasing
public
12safety and wasting valuable funding.
13(3) begin deleteValidated end deletebegin insertEvidence-end insertbegin insertbased end insertrisk and needs assessments are
14an important tool that can provide decisionmakers with data to
15help predict an individual’s likelihood of committing a crime and
16engaging in harmful behavior, such as substance abuse, and can
17help determine which interventions or services will have the most
18impact on the individual.
19(4) begin deleteValidated end deletebegin insertEvidence-end insertbegin insertbased
end insertrisk and needs assessments can
20be used at many different times in the criminal justice process,
21including in determining who should be detained while awaiting
22trial, on probation, before release from incarceration, and while
23on postrelease supervision, such as parole, postrelease community
24supervision, or mandatory supervision.
25(b) For purposes of this section, “risk and needs assessment”
26means a set of measures and questions that are used to measure
27the risk of an individual to commit another offense, miss future
28courtbegin delete appearanceend deletebegin insert appearancesend insert or other appointments, engage in
29substance abuse, and determine what unmet needs the individual
30has.
31(c) All actors in the criminal justice systembegin insert, including police
32officers, probation officers, sheriffs deputies, and other law
33enforcement personnel,end insert are encouraged to usebegin delete a validatedend deletebegin insert an
34evidence-end insertbegin insertbasedend insert risk and needs assessment to help make
35determinations at all stages of the judicial process, including in
36making the determination of who should be detained while awaiting
37trial, and determining supervision level and service referrals while
38on probation, before release from incarceration, and while on
P3 1postrelease
supervision, such as parole, postrelease community
2supervision, or mandatory supervision.
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