Title PEN — California Penal Code

The Attorney General shall appoint such agents and other employees as he deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter. All persons employed after July 1, 1973, within the Department of Justice designated as peace officers and performing investigative duties shall b…

The Attorney General shall from time to time arrange for and organize schools at convenient centers in the State to train peace officers in their powers and duties and in the use of approved equipment and methods for detection, identification and apprehension of criminals.

(a) The Department of Justice shall adopt standards and guidelines regarding the handling of potential evidence arising out of the testing of substances that are suspected to be related to activities of terrorists, to be used by laboratories operated by or contracting with the De…

In any crime of statewide importance, the Attorney General may, upon the request of any district attorney, sheriff or chief of police, assign to such officer so requesting, an investigator or investigators for the investigation or detection of crimes, and the apprehension or pros…

(a) The Attorney General may, upon the request of any district attorney, sheriff, chief of police, or other local, state or federal law enforcement official, make available to such official so requesting, the department’s laboratory facilities and personnel and the department’s t…

The Department of Justice shall perform duties in the investigation, detection, apprehension, prosecution or suppression of crimes as may be assigned by the Attorney General in the performance of his or her duties under Article V, Section 13 of the Constitution.

For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter, the investigators shall have all the powers conferred by law upon any peace officer of this State.

After the effective date of this chapter, and thereafter until the Governor finds and proclaims that an emergency no longer exists in preparing for the national defense, or whenever the United States is engaged in war, or whenever a war emergency has been declared to exist by the…

No investigation of the acts or conduct of any state agency or state official shall be initiated or made through or by the bureau or any employee thereof, without the authorization of the Attorney General particularly specifying the office, department or person to be investigated…

(a) There is within the Department of Justice the Foreign Prosecution and Law Enforcement Unit designated with the responsibility for assisting local law enforcement agencies with foreign prosecutions, child abduction recoveries and returns under the Hague Convention on the Civil…

There is hereby established in the Bureau of Forensic Services of the Department of Justice the California Criminalistics Institute. The purposes of the institute shall include, but need not be limited to, the facilitation of a comprehensive and coordinated approach to meet the h…

To meet the increasing statewide need for criminalists properly trained in DNA analysis, the Department of Justice, the California State University, and, upon agreement by the regents, the University of California, shall work together to enhance collaborative opportunities for DN…

(a) The Department of Justice, through its California Criminalistics Institute, shall develop and coordinate an internship program in forensic DNA analysis for graduate-level students. (1) Candidates for the program must possess at least a baccalaureate degree. (2) The program sh…

(a) The Department of Justice shall establish and chair a task force to conduct a review of California’s crime laboratory system. (b) The task force shall be known as the “Crime Laboratory Review Task Force.” The composition of the task force shall, except as specified in paragra…

(a) To improve upon the implementation of concurrent criminal jurisdiction on California Indian lands, the Department of Justice shall, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, in a manner to be prescribed by the department, provide technical assistance to local law enforc…

(a) The Tribal Police Pilot Program is hereby established to operate from July 1, 2026, until July 1, 2029, under the direction of the Department of Justice and the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. (b) Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, any qualifie…

This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2032, and as of that date is repealed.

This article shall become operative only upon an appropriation of funds by the Legislature for the purposes of this article.

(a) As used in this article, “criminal offender record information” means records and data compiled by criminal justice agencies for purposes of identifying criminal offenders and of maintaining as to each such offender a summary of arrests, pretrial proceedings, the nature and d…

Criminal offender record information shall be disseminated, whether directly or through any intermediary, only to such agencies as are, or may subsequently be, authorized access to such records by statute.

The Attorney General is responsible for the security of criminal offender record information. To this end, he or she shall: (a) Establish regulations to assure the security of criminal offender record information from unauthorized access and disclosures by individuals and public …

(a) Commencing July 1, 2005, and except as provided by subdivision (b), the Department of Justice shall accept fingerprint images and related information to process criminal offender record information requests for employment, licensing, certification, custodial child placement, …

(a) The Attorney General shall establish a communication network that allows the transmission of requests from private service providers in California to the Department of Justice for criminal offender record information for purposes of employment, licensing, certification, custo…

Each agency holding or receiving criminal offender record information in a computerized system shall maintain, for such period as is found by the Attorney General to be appropriate, a listing of the agencies to which it has released or communicated such information.

(a) The Attorney General may conduct inquiries and investigations as he or she finds appropriate to carry out functions under this article. The Attorney General may for this purpose direct any agency, including a tribal court or tribal child welfare agency of a tribe or consortiu…

Nothing in this article shall be construed to affect the right of access of any person or public agency to individual criminal offender record information that is authorized by any other provision of law.

A chief of police of a city or the sheriff of a county shall be authorized to request and receive relevant information concerning persons when on parole who are or may be residing or temporarily domiciled in that city or county and who have been convicted of a federal crime which…

Nothing in this article shall be construed to authorize access of any person or public agency to individual criminal offender record information unless such access is otherwise authorized by law.

The Attorney General shall provide for the installation of a proper system and file in the office of the bureau, cards containing an outline of the method of operation employed by criminals in the commission of crime.

The Attorney General shall procure from any available source, and file for record and report in the office of the bureau, all descriptions, information, photographs, and measurements of all persons convicted of a felony, or imprisoned for violating any of the military, naval, or …

The department may use the following systems of identification: the Bertillon, the fingerprint system, and any system of measurement that may be adopted by law in the various penal institutions of the state.

(a) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, the Department of Justice shall establish, implement, and maintain a certification program to process fingerprint-based criminal background clearances on individuals who roll fingerprint impressions, manually or electronically, for non-law-e…

(a) (1) As used in this section, “custodian of records” means the individual designated by an agency as responsible for the security, storage, dissemination, and destruction of the criminal records furnished to the agency and who serves as the primary contact for the Department o…

The Attorney General shall keep on file in the office of the bureau a record consisting of duplicates of all measurements, processes, operations, signaletic cards, measurements, and descriptions of all persons confined in penal institutions of the state as far as possible, in acc…

The Attorney General shall file all measurements, information and descriptions received and shall make a complete and systematic record and index, providing a method of convenience, consultation, and comparison.

(a) (1) The Department of Justice shall maintain state summary criminal history information. (2) As used in this section: (A) “State summary criminal history information” means the master record of information compiled by the Attorney General pertaining to the identification and …

(a) A government entity specified in subdivision (c) may require employees, prospective employees, volunteers, contractors, and subcontractors to undergo a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history background check. (b) A government entity specified in subdivision (c)…

(a) A government entity specified in subdivision (c) shall require specified applicants to undergo a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history background check. (b) The government entities specified in this section shall submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint…

In addition to furnishing state summary criminal history information to the persons and entities set forth in Section 11105 and subject to the requirements and conditions set forth in that section, the Attorney General shall furnish state summary criminal history information to t…

In addition to furnishing state summary criminal history information to the persons and entities set forth in Section 11105 and subject to the requirements and conditions set forth in that section, the Attorney General shall furnish state summary criminal history information upon…

(a) Subject to the requirements and conditions set forth in this section and Section 11105, local law enforcement agencies are hereby authorized to provide state criminal summary history information obtained through the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS)…

(a) A designated Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program shall submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information of employment and volunteer candidates for the purpose of conducting a state and federal criminal history background check, pursua…

(a) Criminal justice agencies, as defined in Section 13101, shall require employees, prospective employees, volunteers, contractors, and subcontractors, to undergo a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history background check. (b) Criminal justice agencies shall submit…

The Department of Justice shall retain an individual’s fingerprint images and related information submitted as part of a peace officer or nonsworn law enforcement agency employee preemployment criminal offender record information search request. When responding to preemployment c…

(a) An animal control officer, when necessary for performing his or her official duties, shall provide a compelling reason to an appropriate criminal justice agency to obtain state summary criminal history information. (b) Upon a showing of compelling need, the criminal justice a…

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, a tribe or tribal organization may request from the Department of Justice state and federal summary criminal history information for the purpose of licensing or approving a tribally approved home, as defined in subdivision (r) of Section 224.1 o…

(a) The following persons shall be furnished with state summary criminal history information when needed in the course of their duties: (1) The director of a state hospital or other treatment facility to which a person is committed for treatment under Sections 1026 and 1370 of th…

(a) (1) The Department of Justice may provide to any entity authorized by state or federal law to receive state or federal summary criminal history information, subsequent state or federal arrest or disposition notification to assist in fulfilling employment, licensing, or certif…

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, a human resource agency or an employer may request from the Department of Justice records of all convictions or any arrest pending adjudication involving the offenses specified in subdivision (a) of Section 15660 of the Welfare and Institutions …

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a contract or proprietary security organization may request any criminal history information concerning its prospective employees that may be furnished pursuant to subdivision (n) of Section 11105. (b) The Department of Justice shal…