Bill Text: PA SB219 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act amending the act of April 27, 1927 (P.L.414, No.270), entitled as amended, "An act providing for a system of recording the identification of persons convicted of crime, and of fugitives from justice, and habitual criminals; conferring powers and imposing duties upon the Pennsylvania State Police, district attorneys, police officers, wardens or keepers of jails, prisons, workhouses, or other penal institutions, and sheriffs; providing for the payment of certain expenses by the counties; and imposing penalties," providing for a short title; defining "correctional institution"; and further providing for criminal records, for reporting, for fingerprinting, for unified criminal identification, for district attorneys and for violations.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-02-19 - Referred to JUDICIARY [SB219 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2009-SB219-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 225
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 219 Session of2009
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, TARTAGLIONE, KITCHEN, WASHINGTON, STOUT, MUSTO, BROWNE, WOZNIAK, TOMLINSON, EARLL, COSTA, PILEGGI, RAFFERTY, O'PAKE, STACK, WONDERLING, BOSCOLA, PIPPY AND WAUGH, FEBRUARY 19, 2009
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 27, 1927 (P.L.414, No.270), entitled
as amended, "An act providing for a system of recording the
identification of persons convicted of crime, and of
fugitives from justice, and habitual criminals; conferring
powers and imposing duties upon the Pennsylvania State
Police, district attorneys, police officers, wardens or
keepers of jails, prisons, workhouses, or other penal
institutions, and sheriffs; providing for the payment of
certain expenses by the counties; and imposing penalties,"
providing for a short title; defining "correctional
institution"; and further providing for criminal records, for
reporting, for fingerprinting, for unified criminal
identification, for district attorneys and for violations.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 1 and 2 of the act of April 27, 1927
(P.L.414, No.270), entitled as amended, "An act providing for a
system of recording the identification of persons convicted of
crime, and of fugitives from justice, and habitual criminals;
conferring powers and imposing duties upon the Pennsylvania
State Police, district attorneys, police officers, wardens or
keepers of jails, prisons, workhouses, or other penal
institutions, and sheriffs; providing for the payment of certain
expenses by the counties; and imposing penalties," amended April
28, 1943 (P.L.119, No.61), are repealed:
[Section 1. From and after the passage of this act, the
Pennsylvania State Police shall continue to procure and file for
record photographs, pictures, descriptions, fingerprints, and
such other information as may be pertinent, of all persons who
have been, or may hereafter be, convicted of crime within this
Commonwealth, and also of all well-known and habitual criminals
wherever they may be procured.
Section 2. It shall be the duty of the persons in charge of
any State penal institution, or of any jail, prison, or
workhouse within this Commonwealth, to furnish to the
Pennsylvania State Police, upon request, the fingerprints,
photographs, and description of any person detained in such
institution, jail, prison, or workhouse.]
Section 2. The act is amended by adding sections to read:
Section 1.1. Short Title.--This act shall be known and may
be cited as the "Criminal Records and Fingerprinting Act."
Section 2.1. Definition.--The term "correctional
institution" shall mean a penal institution, penitentiary, State
farm, reformatory, prison, jail, house of correction or other
institution operated by the Commonwealth or a municipality for
the incarceration or custody of individuals under sentence for a
criminal offense or awaiting trial or sentence for a criminal
offense.
Section 3. Section 3 of the act, amended July 13, 1961 (P.L.
589, No.287), is amended to read:
Section 3. Fingerprinting.--The Pennsylvania State Police,
[the persons in charge of State penal institutions, the wardens
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or keepers of jails, prisons, and workhouses within this
Commonwealth, and all] a police [officers within the several
political subdivisions of this Commonwealth, shall have the
authority to take,] officer and an individual in charge of a
correctional institution may take or cause to be taken[,] the
fingerprints or photographs of [any person] an individual in
custody[,] who is charged with the commission of [crime] a
criminal offense, or who [they have reason to believe] is
believed to be a fugitive from justice or a habitual criminal.[,
except persons charged with a violation of "The Vehicle Code"
which is punishable upon conviction in a summary proceeding
unless they have reason to believe the person is a fugitive from
justice or a habitual criminal; and it shall be the duty of the
chiefs of bureaus of all cities within this Commonwealth to
furnish daily, to the Pennsylvania State Police, copies of the
fingerprints and, if possible, photographs, of all persons
arrested within their jurisdiction charged with the commission
of felony, or who they have reason to believe are fugitives from
justice or habitual criminals, such fingerprints to be taken on
forms furnished or approved by the Pennsylvania State Police. It
shall be the duty of the Pennsylvania State Police, immediately
upon the receipt of such records, to compare them with those
already in their files, and, if they find that any person
arrested has a previous criminal record or is a fugitive from
justice, forthwith to inform the arresting officer, or the
officer having the prisoner in charge, of such fact.]
Section 4. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 3.1. Criminal Records.--(a) The Pennsylvania State
Police shall procure and maintain a record of individuals who
are convicted of a criminal offense within this Commonwealth.
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The record shall contain photographs, pictures, descriptions,
fingerprints and such other information as may be pertinent to
identify the individual convicted of the offense.
(b) The Pennsylvania State Police shall procure and maintain
a record of habitual criminals. The record shall contain
photographs, pictures, descriptions, fingerprints and such other
information as may be pertinent to identify the individual.
Section 5. Section 4 of the act, amended April 28, 1943
(P.L.119, No.61), is amended to read:
Section 4. [It shall be the duty of the] Unified Criminal
Identification.--The Pennsylvania State Police [to] shall
cooperate with agencies of other States and of the United
States, having similar powers, to develop and carry on a
complete interstate, national[,] and international system of
criminal identification and investigation[, and also to]. The
Pennsylvania State Police shall furnish, upon request, any
information in its possession concerning any [person] individual
charged with [crime] a criminal offense to any court, district
attorney[,] or police officer of this Commonwealth, or of
another state or of the United States.
Section 6. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 4.1. Reporting.--(a) Upon request by the
Pennsylvania State Police, the individual in charge of a
correctional institution shall provide to the Pennsylvania State
Police the fingerprints, photographs and descriptions of all
individuals detained in the correctional institution.
(b) An individual in charge of a municipal law enforcement
agency shall, on a daily basis, provide the Pennsylvania State
Police with copies of the fingerprints and photographs of an
individual who is arrested within the agency's jurisdiction and
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who is charged with the commission of a felony or who is
believed to be a fugitive from justice or a habitual criminal.
Fingerprints shall be taken on forms furnished or approved by
the Pennsylvania State Police. The Pennsylvania State Police
shall, immediately upon the receipt of the fingerprints and
photographs, compare them with those already in its files. If
the Pennsylvania State Police find that any individual arrested
has a previous criminal record or is a fugitive from justice it
shall immediately inform the arresting officer or the officer
having custody of the individual of that fact.
(c) Upon discovery of an escape from a correctional
institution, the individual in charge of the correctional
institution shall immediately notify, by any verifiable means,
the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction of the escape from
the institution. If the escape is from a State correctional
institution, the individual in charge of the State correctional
institution shall immediately notify the Pennsylvania State
Police of the escape. The Pennsylvania State Police shall notify
the State correctional institution and the Department of
Corrections when it assumes command of the pursuit and
apprehension efforts and may direct the State correctional
institution to terminate its pursuit.
Section 7. Section 5 of the act, amended April 28, 1943
(P.L.119, No.61), is amended to read:
Section 5. District Attorneys.--(a) [The district attorneys
of the several counties are hereby authorized and empowered,
from time to time, to] A district attorney may employ the
services of [experts] an expert on fingerprints to assist [them]
the district attorney in the investigation of pending cases and
to testify [upon the trial thereof] at trial. The compensation
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of [any such] the expert shall be fixed by the district attorney
[employing him, with the approval of the court of quarter
sessions,] and shall be paid from the county treasury [upon
warrant of the county commissioners in the usual manner].
(b) [The] A district attorney [of any county, the warden or
keeper of the county jail, or any expert employed by the
district attorney], an individual in charge of a correctional
institution or any other person designated by the district
attorney[, shall have the power] may, upon the written order of
the district attorney, [to take the fingerprints of any persons]
fingerprint an individual confined in [the county jail of such
county] a correctional institution for use in the identification
of the [prisoner or upon his trial] individual or in the trial
of the individual.
(c) [The district attorneys of the several counties] A
district attorney shall keep and arrange files of [the]
fingerprints[, taken under the provisions of this act, of
persons] of individuals convicted of [crime] a criminal offense
and shall destroy the fingerprints of [all persons] individuals
acquitted. The files of fingerprints maintained by [the district
attorneys] a district attorney shall be open to the inspection
of any other district attorney [of this Commonwealth, or their
representatives, or of], the Pennsylvania State Police, [or any]
a sheriff or a police or peace officer.
(d) [District attorneys shall not be authorized to] A
district attorney may not take fingerprints[, under this
section, of persons] of an individual arrested for
[misdemeanors, unless] a misdemeanor unless the district
[attorneys have] attorney has reason to believe that [such
persons are old offenders against the penal laws of this
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Commonwealth] the individual has committed an offense that is
graded a felony and has not been arrested for the felony
offense.
Section 8. Section 6 of the act, amended April 28, 1943
(P.L.119, No.61), is repealed:
[Section 6. Neglect or refusal of any person mentioned in
this act to make the report required herein, or to do or perform
any other act on his part to be done or performed in connection
with the operation of this act, shall constitute a misdemeanor,
and such person shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a
fine of not less than five nor more than twenty-five dollars, or
by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not exceeding
thirty days, or by both, in the discretion of the court. Such
neglect or refusal shall also constitute malfeasance in office
and subject such person to removal from office. Any person who
removes, destroys, or mutilates any of the records of the
Pennsylvania State Police, or of any district attorney, shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor, and such person shall, upon conviction
thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred
dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of
not exceeding one year, or by both, in the discretion of the
court.]
Section 9. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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