Bills

AB 2778: Crimes: race-blind charging.

  • Session Year: 2021-2022
  • House: Assembly
  • Latest Version Date: 2022-09-29
Version:

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 develop and publish Race-Blind Charging guidelines whereby all prosecuting agencies, as specified, 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 departments guidelines, the bill would require prosecution agencies to independently develop and execute a process to review and to redact information based on general criteria, including, beginning January 1, 2025, 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 require a second, complete review of the case using unredacted reports and available evidence to consider the applicable individual charges and enhancements to charge in a criminal complaint, or allow the case to be submitted to a jury. If the decision to charge or not to charge after a second review is different from the charging determination after the initial charging evaluation, the bill would require documentation of the change in charging determination as well as an explanation for the change to be part of the case record and would require these documents to be disclosed, upon request, after sentencing or dismissal of the charges, unless the documents are privileged or work product. The bill would require a decision not to put a case through a race-blind charging evaluation to be documented. The bill would authorize a prosecuting agency to remove or exclude certain classes of crimes or factual circumstances from a race-blind initial charging evaluation, including homicides, hate crimes, and cases involving public integrity. 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.

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Chaptered (9/29/2022)

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