Cal. Welf. and Inst. Code § 503

Current through the 2023 Legislative Session.

Section 503 - Policies adopted by programs funded under article; duties of participating district attorneys, probation departments and school districts

Programs funded under this article shall adopt and pursue the following policies:

(a) Each participating law enforcement agency shall do all of the following:

(1) Gather data on identified serious habitual offenders.

(2) Compile data into a usable format for law enforcement, prosecutors, probation officers, schools, and courts pursuant to an interagency agreement.

(3) Regularly update data and disseminate data to juvenile justice system agencies, as needed.

(4) Establish local policies in cooperation with the prosecutor, the probation officer, schools, and the juvenile court regarding data collection, arrest, and detention of serious habitual offenders.

(5) Provide support and assistance to other agencies engaged in the program.

(b) Each participating district attorney's office shall do all of the following:

(1) File petitions based on the most serious provable offenses of each arrest of a serious habitual offender.

(2) Use all reasonable prosecutorial efforts to resist the release, where appropriate, of the serious habitual offender at all stages of the prosecution.

(3) Seek an admission of guilt on all offenses charged in the petition against the offender. The only cases in which the prosecutor may request the court to reduce or dismiss the charges shall be cases in which the prosecutor decides there is insufficient evidence to prove the people's case, the testimony of a material witness cannot be obtained or a reduction or dismissal will not result in a substantial change in sentence. In those cases, the prosecutor shall file a written declaration with the court stating the specific factual and legal basis for such a reduction or dismissal and the court shall make specific findings on the record of its ruling and the reasons therefor.

(4) Vertically prosecute all cases involving serious habitual offenders, whereby the prosecutor who makes the initial filing decision or appearance on such a case shall perform all subsequent court appearances on that case through its conclusion, including the disposition phase.

(5) Make all reasonable prosecutorial efforts to persuade the court to impose the most appropriate sentence upon such an offender at the time of disposition. As used in this paragraph, "most appropriate sentence" means any disposition available to the juvenile court.

(6) Make all reasonable prosecutorial efforts to reduce the time between arrest and disposition of the charge.

(7) Act as liaison with the court and other criminal justice agencies to establish local policies regarding the program and to ensure interagency cooperation in the planning and implementation of the program.

(8) Provide support and assistance to other agencies engaged in the program.

(c) Each participating probation department shall do all of the following:

(1) Cooperate in gathering data for use by all participating agencies pursuant to interagency agreement.

(2) Detain minors in custody who meet the detention criteria set forth in Section 628.

(3) Consider the data relating to serious habitual offenders when making all decisions regarding the identified individual and include relevant data in written reports to the court.

(4) Use all reasonable efforts to file violations of probation pursuant to Section 777 in a timely manner.

(5) Establish local policies in cooperation with law enforcement, the district attorney, schools, and the juvenile court regarding the program and provide support and assistance to other agencies engaged in the program.

(d) Each participating school district shall do all of the following:

(1) Cooperate in gathering data for use by all participating agencies pursuant to interagency agreement. School district access to records and data shall be limited to that information that is otherwise authorized by law.

(2) Report all crimes that are committed on campus by serious habitual offenders to law enforcement.

(3) Report all violations of probation committed on campus by serious habitual offenders to the probation officer or his or her designee.

(4) Provide educational supervision and services appropriate to serious habitual offenders attending schools.

(5) Establish local policies in cooperation with law enforcement, the district attorney, probation and the juvenile court regarding the program and provide support and assistance to other agencies engaged in the program.

Ca. Welf. and Inst. Code § 503

Amended by Stats 2004 ch 193 (SB 111),s 207, eff. 1/1/2005