Criminal justice statistics: reporting.

Plain English Breakdown

The official summary text specifies that the Department of Justice is required to collect and publish data, not just publish existing data.

Criminal Justice Reporting Requirements

This law requires the Department of Justice and Judicial Council to collect and publish detailed statistics about criminal convictions, court activities, and funding allocations on their websites.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Department of Justice to collect and publish annual reports online with monthly data for each county related to petty theft and possession of narcotics convictions.
• Makes counties submit information about how they spend state and federal funds on sheriff, probation, and court activities.
• Requires superior courts to report outcomes of judicial review proceedings related to certain criminal statutes to the Judicial Council.
• Directs the Judicial Council to publish an annual report based on the submitted data starting January 1, 2027.

Who It Names or Affects

• The Department of Justice
• Counties and their agencies (sheriff, probation)
• Superior courts

Terms To Know

State-mandated local program

A program where the state requires counties to do something specific.

Reimbursement

Money given back by the state to help cover costs for a mandated program.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much it will cost or who will pay for collecting and publishing this data.
• It is unclear if there are any penalties for not following these reporting requirements.
• Details about the specific criminal statutes covered by the reports have not been fully defined.

Official Summary Text

SB 319, as amended, Ashby.
Criminal justice statistics: reporting.
Existing law requires the Judicial Council to collect and maintain statistics, and to publish them at least on a yearly basis, about the compliance of the superior court of each county and each branch court with the standards for the timely disposition of cases, as specified.
Existing law requires criminal justice agencies to compile records and data, including a summary of arrests, pretrial proceedings, the nature and disposition of criminal charges, sentencing, incarceration, rehabilitation, and release, about criminal offenders. Existing law requires agencies to report this information to the Department of Justice for each arrest made.
This bill would require the Department of Justice to
publish
collect and publish, as specified,
on its internet website annual statistical reports providing monthly information for each county related to convictions of certain statutes pertaining to, among other things,
petty
theft and possession of
narcotics,
a hard drug,
including, by month, the number of people convicted of these statutes and, for each conviction, whether the conviction was classified as a misdemeanor or a felony.
This bill would also require every county to submit to the department specified data and information, including the county’s annual allocation and expenditure of state and federal funds on sheriff, probation, and
court activities, by category and specific grant program, including reimbursement. The bill would require the
department
department, commencing on January 1, 2027,
to post this data and information on its internet website.
This bill would require, for each person charged
with the same certain statutes above,
under a certain statute pertaining to possession of a hard drug,
each superior court to submit specified metrics to the Judicial
Council, including the outcome
Council. For each person charged under the above provisions, the bill would require each superior court to submit the outcomes
of judicial review proceedings mandated by those
statutes. The
statutes, as specified, to the Judicial Council. Commencing January 1, 2027, the
bill would require the Judicial Council to publish an annual report related to the specified metrics on its internet website.
By requiring counties to submit specified data to the Department of Justice, this bill would create 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.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF