Bill Text: CA AB2977 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Correctional officers: training.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-17 - In committee: Hearing postponed by committee. [AB2977 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB2977-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2977
| Introduced by Assembly Member Wicks |
February 21, 2020 |
An act to add Article 6 (commencing with Section 6047) to Chapter 5 of Title 7 of Part 3 of the Penal Code, relating to correctional officers.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2977, as introduced, Wicks.
Correctional officers: training.
Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community Corrections to provide statewide leadership, coordination, and technical assistance to promote effective state and local efforts and partnerships in California’s adult and juvenile criminal justice system.
This bill would require the board to develop and implement a program of training on the subject of implicit bias. The bill would require the board to convene a working group, as specified, to develop the 3-hour long course on implicit bias, as described, and would require all state and local correctional officers, parole officers, and probation officers, as specified, to take the course by no later than January 1, 2024.
This bill would also require the working group to develop a 3-hour long continuing training and refresher course and would
require that course to be taken every 3 years.
This bill would require the working group to regularly update the courses as necessary, to monitor and evaluate the program on an ongoing basis, and to ensure compliance. The bill would also require the working group to approve all presenters of the course.
This bill would require the Department of Justice to nominate and vet applicants for appointment to the working group and for filling subsequent vacancies.
This bill would also require the board, by no later than January 1, 2024, and every 3 years thereafter, to submit a report to the Legislature, as specified.
By requiring new training for local probation officers and correctional officers, this 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: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) All persons possess implicit biases, defined as positive or negative associations that affect their beliefs, attitudes, and actions toward other people.
(2) Those biases develop during the course of a lifetime, beginning at an early age, through exposure to messages about groups of people that are socially advantaged or disadvantaged.
(3) Social science reveals that most people in the United States have an implicit bias that disfavors Black Americans and favors White Americans, resulting from a long history of subjugation
and exploitation of people of African descent.
(4) People also have negative biases toward members of other socially stigmatized groups, such as Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, immigrants, women, Muslims, people with disabilities, people experiencing mental health challenges, and members of the LGBTQIA community.
(5) Psychology studies show that Americans are likely to associate Black faces with criminality, to misidentify common objects as weapons after being shown photos of Black faces, and to label photos of Black people as threatening.
(6) Correctional personnel harbor the same kinds of implicit biases as others.
(7) The term correctional personnel encompasses parole officers, probation officers, as well as any other persons who perform
supervision, custody, care, or treatment functions and are employed by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Department of Youth and Community Restoration, any correctional or detention facility, probation department, community-based correctional program, or other state or local public facility or program responsible for the custody, supervision, treatment, or rehabilitation of persons accused of, or adjudged responsible for, criminal or delinquent conduct.
(8) Collectively correctional personnel officers make critical decisions about the length of a person’s time under state or county supervision, the conditions of supervision, the allocation of rehabilitative services and alternatives to incarceration, as well as the revocation of supervision and remand to prison, jail, or a community-based correctional program.
(9) The implicit biases of correctional personnel
contribute to unacceptable disparities along racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and other lines that plague our criminal justice system.
(10) Black Americans make up only 13 percent of the United States adult population but 30 percent of those are under parole, probation, or other forms of correctional control. Black men are six times as likely to be incarcerated as White men, and Hispanic men are more than twice as likely to be incarcerated as non-Hispanic White men.
(11) National data shows that Black Americans are subject to significantly higher rates of probation revocation than White Americans. This racial disparity remains even when controlling for factors such as age, employment, risk assessment, type of charge, and criminal history.
(12) In California, 2015 statistics show that Black youth were nearly 10 times
more likely to be detained or committed to a juvenile facility than White youth. In the City of Oakland, the 2018 Equity Indicators Report revealed that Black youth were 112 times more likely to be arrested on felony charges than White youth.
(13) Research shows individuals can reduce the negative impact of their implicit biases by becoming aware of what biases they hold and by taking affirmative steps to avoid acting on their biases.
(14) Implicit bias training will further the goals of the 2011 Realignment Legislation addressing public safety, to replace the costly, ineffective, and unsafe revolving door of incarceration with services that support rehabilitation, decarceration, and restoration to community care.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to eliminate biased policies, practices, and outcomes in the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Department of Youth and Community Restoration, city and county correctional and detention facilities, probation departments, community-based correctional programs, and other state or local public facilities and programs responsible for the custody, supervision, treatment, or rehabilitation of persons accused of, or held responsible for, criminal or delinquent conduct.
SEC. 2.
Article 6 (commencing with Section 6047) is added to Chapter 5 of Title 7 of Part 3 of the Penal Code, to read:Article 6. Mandated Training on Implicit Bias
6047.
(a) The Board of State and Community Corrections shall, in collaboration with the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training and the Commission on Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training, develop and implement a program of training and testing focused on the impact of implicit bias on individual and institutional decisionmaking in correctional and community corrections facilities and settings.(b) To carry out the requirements of subdivision (a), the board shall convene a working group that shall be comprised as follows:
(1) Three persons who are experts in the field of implicit bias and who represent the diversity of persons served by the legal system. These
persons shall have either academic training in implicit bias, counter-bias training certification, or three to five years of experience teaching or facilitating courses aimed at addressing implicit bias.
(2) Two person who have been either formerly incarcerated or formerly under some form of formal postconviction supervision in California.
(3) One person who is a member of the public and who has experience with restorative justice, trauma-informed care, or community alternatives to incarceration.
(4) A sworn correctional officer from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, a sworn member of a county sheriff’s department or county correctional authority, and a sworn member of a county probation department, all of whom have experience in the development and implementation of training for correctional or
community supervision personnel.
(c) Members of the working group, including persons needed to fill any subsequent vacancies, shall be nominated to the board and vetted by the Attorney General through an open application process.
(d) The working group shall, by no later than January 1, 2022, develop an implicit bias training curriculum that shall include at least three hours of instruction and shall include, but not be limited to, each of the following subjects and components:
(1) A survey of the social science on implicit bias, unconscious bias, explicit bias, and systemic implicit bias, including the ways that bias affects institutional policies and practices.
(2) A working understanding of mind science concepts underpinning implicit bias, including
racial anxiety, stereotype threat, and ingroup preference.
(3) Recognition that people hold biases based on characteristics such as race, gender, ethnicity, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, mental and physical ability, religion, and socioeconomic and housing status.
(4) Historical perspective on how biases developed as a result of social stereotypes promulgated to justify the exploitation and marginalization of groups of people who were socially disadvantaged, including, but not limited to, Black people, Indigenous people, people of color, immigrants, religious minorities, people with disabilities, people experiencing mental illness, women, and individuals who identify or are perceived as representing nontraditional sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions.
(5) Examples
of how implicit bias affects the perceptions, judgments, and actions of correctional personnel, resulting in disparities in the administration of the state correctional system and local correctional facilities.
(6) Strategies for counteracting and reducing the negative impact of one’s implicit biases on persons accused of, or adjudged responsible for, criminal or delinquent conduct, members of the public, and other correctional personnel.
(7) Implicit association testing, the results of which are for self-reflection only and not disclosed to anyone but the test taker.
(8) Roleplaying and interactive exercises that give participants opportunities to practice newly learned strategies for tracking and interrupting biased thought patterns and actions.
(9) Inquiry into how correctional agencies and departments can decrease the impact of the biases of individual personnel on institutional policies and outcomes.
(10) Discussion of how bias-reduction strategies contribute to the safety of correctional personnel and individuals in their custody and care.
(e) The working group shall, by no later than January 1, 2024, develop a continued training and refresher course. This course shall be three hours in length and shall include more in-depth study and self-inquiry related to the subject areas outlined in subdivision (d).
(f) In addition to developing the curriculum described in subdivisions (d) and (e), the working group shall do all of the following:
(1) Provide ongoing monitoring and
evaluation of the implicit bias training program.
(2) Regularly review and update the courses described in subdivisions (d) and (e) and update the curriculum as necessary.
(3) Implement fidelity and quality control measures in order to ensure that all of the required subjects are being covered in training courses.
(4) Vet and approve trainers for the implicit bias training program pursuant to subdivision (h).
(5) Assist in the preparation of the reports required by Section 6047.5.
(g) (1) By no later than January 1, 2024, the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall ensure that each correctional officer, supervisor, and manager, and each
parole agent and parole supervisor completes the training described in subdivision (d).
(2) By no later than January 1, 2024, the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training shall ensure that each peace officer who is primarily assigned to a correctional or custodial assignment completes the training described in subdivision (d).
(3) By no later than January 1, 2024, the sheriff of each county that employs correctional officers or custodial staff who are not peace officers shall ensure that those persons complete the training described in subdivision (d).
(4) By no later than January 1, 2024, the chief probation officer of each county shall ensure that each probation officer and juvenile probation officer completes the training described in subdivision (d).
(5) By no later than January 1, 2024, the Director of the Department of Youth and Community Restoration shall ensure that each correctional officer, counselor, supervisor, and manager completes the training described in subdivision (d).
(6) Every two years after completion of the training described in subdivision (d), each person described in this subdivision shall complete the continued training and refresher course described in subdivision (e).
(h) Presenters of the training described in subdivisions (d) and (e) shall be approved by the working group.
6047.5.
(a) The board shall, by no later than January 1, 2024, and every three years thereafter, prepare and submit a report to the Legislature summarizing the content of the curriculum, the effectiveness of the training, and the impact of the training program on the desired outcomes of eliminating biased policies, practices, and outcomes.(b) The report described in this section shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
