Bill Text: CA AB2778 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Crimes: race-blind charging.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-09-29 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 806, Statutes of 2022. [AB2778 Detail]

Download: California-2021-AB2778-Introduced.html

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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2778

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Introduced by Assembly Member McCarty

February 18, 2022

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An act to add Section 741 to the Penal Code, relating to crimes.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2778, as introduced, McCarty. Crimes: race-blind charging.

Existing law provides a district attorney the discretion to file criminal charges against an individual. Existing law allows a district attorney to complete necessary investigations into alleged criminal conduct and make the decision of whether to proceed with filing criminal charges. Existing law allows a district attorney to participate in any project or program to improve the administration of justice.

This bill would, beginning on January 1, 2024, require the Department of Justice to establish and implement a “Race-Blind Charging” system whereby all prosecutors implement a process to review a case for charging based on information, from which all means of identifying the race of the suspect, victim, or witness have been removed or redacted. Following the department’s guidelines, the bill would require prosecutors to independently develop and execute a process to review and to redact information based on general criteria, including how cases are to be redacted, that the initial charging evaluation is to determine whether the case should be charged or not charged, and that a prosecutor without knowledge of specified facts is required to perform the initial charging evaluation based on redacted information. The bill would also require a decision not to put a case through a race-blind charging evaluation to be documented. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations. By imposing a higher level of service on local prosecutors, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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 the statutory provisions noted above.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) In recent years, the increasing availability of data regarding criminal justice has raised legitimate questions regarding racial disparities in how cases are investigated, charged, and prosecuted. In particular, studies suggest that unknowing or “unconscious” bias may infect many decisions within the criminal justice system, despite what may be the best intentions of the actors involved. (Baughman et al., Blinding Prosecutors to Defendants’ Race: A Policy Proposal to Reduce Unconscious Bias in the Criminal Justice System (Dec. 2015) Behavioral Science & Policy, 70.)

(b) One method to address bias is to “acknowledge its existence and create institutional procedures to prevent bias from influencing important decisions.” (id. 71) In other contexts, such as science, employment, or academia, the “blinding” of evaluators assists in dispelling concerns of discrimination or bias in decisionmaking. (id. 71-72)

(c) In an effort to increase community confidence in the charging process, and to reduce the potential for unconscious bias, some district attorney offices employ a method whereby reports received from the police are stripped of all data from which the race of the suspect may be determined so that at least the initial charging assessment of the case is done “race blind.” The Yolo County District Attorney in partnership with the Stanford Computational Policy Lab in 2021 created and implemented a race-blind charging system built into its case management system for most cases.

SEC. 2.

 Section 741 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

741.

 (a) Beginning January 1, 2024, the Department of Justice shall establish and implement a “Race-Blind Charging” system whereby all prosecutors in agencies, or branches of agencies, that prosecute criminal violations of the law as felonies or misdemeanors, shall implement a process by which an initial review of a case for potential charging is performed based on information, including police reports and criminal histories from the Department of Justice, from which all means of identifying the race of the suspect, victim, or witness have been removed or redacted.

(b) Following the department’s guidelines, prosecutors will independently develop and execute versions of this redaction and review process with the following general criteria:

(1) Cases received from law enforcement agencies shall be redacted in order to be used for an initial charging evaluation. This redaction may occur in a separate version of the documents and may be done mechanically, by hand performed by personnel not associated with the charging of the case, or by automation with the use of computer programming, so long as the method used reasonably assures correct redaction. The redaction may be applied to the entire report or to only the “narrative” portion of the report so long as the portion submitted for initial review is sufficient to perform that review and the unredacted portions are not part of the initial case review.

(2) The initial charging evaluation based on redacted information, including redacted reports, criminal histories, and narratives, shall determine whether the case should be charged or not be charged. Individual charges shall not be determined at this initial charging evaluation stage. Other evidence may be considered as part of this initial charging evaluation so long as the other evidence does not reveal redacted facts. The initial charging evaluation shall be performed by a prosecutor who does not have knowledge of the redacted facts for that case.

(3) If a case was unable to be put through a race-blind initial review, the reason for that inability shall be documented.

SEC. 3.

 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.