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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, Second Regular Session
AMENDED
criminal justice case information; reporting.
Purpose
Requires the Maricopa County Attorney to prepare semi-annual reports on specified criminal justice case information. Requires the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC) to create a state criminal justice data inventory report.
Background
The ACJC was established in 1982 and provides a cooperative exchange of information among various public and private agencies and analyzes issues related to criminal justice and law enforcement. The ACJC is required to monitor progress and implementation of criminal justice legislation, facilitate research among criminal justice agencies, facilitate efforts to share criminal justice information and data, prepare a biennial review report, and gather and disseminate information related to crime prevention to the public, local governments, law enforcement agencies and the Legislature (A.R.S. §§ 4 1-2401 et seq).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
County Criminal Justice Reporting
1. Requires the Maricopa County Attorney to create a semi-annual report that includes the number of felony cases that:
a) are charged by the prosecutor's office through an indictment;
b) are resolved by the respective prosecutor's office through a plea agreement and whether the defendant pleaded guilty or no contest;
c) are presented by the respective prosecutor for bench or jury trial consideration and whether the case ended with:
i. a finding of guilt;
ii. a finding of guilty except insane;
iii. an acquittal;
iv. a dismissal based on a finding that the defendant is incompetent to stand trial; or
v. a split decision, in which case the prosecutor must report the number of charges that ended in a finding of guilt and the number of charges that ended in an acquittal;
d) a first-time felony offender received a sentence of:
i. probation;
ii. less than one year of imprisonment;
iii. one year or more but less than three years of imprisonment;
iv. three years or more but less than five years of imprisonment;
v. 5 years or more but less than 10 years of imprisonment;
vi. 10 years or more of imprisonment; or
vii. death; and
e) a repetitive felony offender received a sentence of:
i. probation;
ii. less than one year of imprisonment;
iii. one year or more but less than three years of imprisonment;
iv. three years or more but less than five years of imprisonment;
v. 5 years or more but less than 10 years of imprisonment;
vi. 10 years or more of imprisonment; or
vii. death.
2. Requires the prosecutor's office, for each case that is included in the report, to include:
a) the defendant's age, race and gender;
b) the incident date;
c) the date for the filing of initial charges;
d) the disposition of each charge of the case, including:
i. whether the case or charges were dismissed by or on motion of the prosecutor and the reason for dismissal;
ii. all charges of which the defendant was convicted, if any;
iii. if the defendant was convicted, whether the conviction occurred by plea, jury trial or bench trial; and
iv. if the case was dismissed by a judge;
e) the disposition date;
f) the type of sentence imposed, including prison, supervised probation or unsupervised probation;
g) the length of the sentence;
h) the terms of any supervision that was imposed, including standard or intensive probation and electronic monitoring;
i) whether the defendant was placed on probation following a prison sentence;
j) the final restitution amount owed, if any; and
k) whether the conviction required the forfeiture of any property.
3. Requires
the Maricopa County Attorney that prosecutes specified drug crimes to make a
semi-annual report for each individual charge that includes preparatory
offenses and the drug type and weight.
4. Prohibits a prosecutor from leaving any blank responses in the required reports and specifies what terminology must be used if information is not available.
5. Designates the Director of the ACJC as the central collection point for criminal justice data reports.
6. Requires the ACJC to determine the method for the county attorney to transmit the required reports.
7. Requires the Director of the ACJC or appointed members on the ACJC, or both, to review and consolidate the data within 60 days after receiving the data or at the next scheduled ACJC Board meeting following the receipt of the data.
8. Requires the ACJC to calculate the overall recidivism rate of all prisoners who are released from prison for 5, 10 and 15 years after the prisoner's release.
9. Requires recidivism to be separately calculated by reconviction, reincarceration and rearrest.
10. Requires the ACJC Director to submit the ACJC's recommendations, the recidivism rates and the consolidated data report 10 calendar days after the 16th day or 10 calendar days after the ACJC Board adjourns to the Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and the Minority Leader of the Senate.
11. Requires the ACJC to ensure that the reporting is completed in a uniform and consistent manner.
12. Allows the ACJC, unless prohibited by law, to require a state or local criminal justice agency to submit any necessary information that is currently collected and maintained by the agency at the time of request, and outlines potential information to be requested.
13. Requires the ACJC to conduct a comprehensive survey of data contained in criminal justice records systems housed at local and state criminal justice agencies, including:
a) courts;
b) law enforcement agencies;
c) prosecuting attorneys;
d) public defender offices;
e) the Arizona Department of Corrections;
f) the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections; and
g) county and city jails.
14. Requires, beginning a year after the general effective date and every six months after, Maricopa County Attorney to transmit the reports to the ACJC.
15. Requires, beginning a year after the general effective date and every six months after, the ACJC to publish the reports on its website.
16. Prohibits the published reports from containing any individual or identifying personal information that was collected.
ACJC Criminal Justice Data Inventory Report
17. Requires the ACJC to create a state criminal justice data inventory report identifying what data is housed in the enumerated state and local agencies.
18. Requires the ACJC, by August 1, 2021, to submit the data inventory report to specified recipients.
19. Requires the ACJC to ensure that the reporting is completed in a uniform and consistent manner and that the report is available on ACJS's website.
20. Requires the data inventory report to contain cost estimates and recommendations on the technology elements that are necessary for the ACJC to implement a statewide criminal justice data reporting system that is published on ACJC's website.
21. Requires the data inventory report to include, where identifiable, cost estimates for the necessary reprogramming or updating of local and state criminal justice agency data record systems to be able to transmit the required data into the statewide reporting system.
22. Requires the ACJC, by November 1, 2021, to develop a comprehensive list of the data that local and state criminal justice agencies are required to report into the statewide reporting system after the reporting system becomes operational.
Miscellaneous
23. Defines key terms.
24. Contains a legislative intent clause.
25. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by Committee
1. Removes the Attorney General (AG) and every county other than Maricopa County from the reporting requirements.
2. Delays the first due dates of the reports by six months.
3. Removes various required reporting metrics and removes the report that a county attorney's and public defender's office must make about the make-up of their offices.
4. Removes the ability of the AG to withhold monies from noncomplying counties.
5. Requires the ACJC to conduct of a comprehensive survey of various state and local criminal justice agencies in order to create a state criminal justice data inventory report.
Senate Action
JUD 2/21/20 DPA 6-0-1
Prepared by Senate Research
February 24, 2020
JA/gs/kja