California FY 2019 NCHIP

The goal of the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) is to improve the Nation's safety and security by enhancing the quality, completeness, and accessibility of criminal history record information and by insuring the nationwide implementation of criminal justice and noncriminal justice background check systems. BJS provides direct financial and technical assistance to the states to improve criminal history and other related records and to build their infrastructure to connect to national record check systems both to supply information and to conduct the requisite checks.

Under the 2019 NCHIP priority areas, the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) will administer, manage, and collaborate with the Judicial Council of California (JCC) to improve disposition reporting.

1) JCC Disposition Reporting: CA DOJ will use NCHIP FY19 funds to continue the state’s efforts to improve the collection, processing, reporting, archival, and storage of disposition information, for the JCC and the CA DOJ. With this funding the state will continue efforts to enhance the CA DOJ NIEM-conformant data exchange and the disposition portal application, which are used by California criminal justice agencies (law enforcement agencies, prosecuting agencies, and courts) to report disposition information. These efforts are designed to increase the percentage of dispositions associated with arrests in state and federal repositories; ensuring that accurate, complete, and timely information is available for purposes of public safety and for employment, licensing, and certification background checks; and ensuring that children, the elderly or the disabled are protected from individuals that should not be providing them with care and that firearms are not in the possession or control of prohibited individuals. The JCC will conduct research and provide technical assistance and outreach to the 58 superior courts of California to increase the accuracy and completeness of electronic case disposition reporting. Specifically, the JCC will 1) conduct background research to identify possible modifications to criminal citation forms that are likely to increase defendant comprehension and compliance with required actions; 2) subject to the findings of current research being conducted, implement the research plan developed in NCHIP FY18 on efficacy of on-site Livescan devices in closing the disposition gap; 3) continue to act as a liaison between CA DOJ and the courts to improve mental health reporting for the purpose of firearm prohibition; 4) support the CA Master Charge Code Table project by attending meetings and conducting background research and providing general support to the assigned project attorney and business system analyst; 5) maintain the Data Dashboards created with previous NCHIP funds; and 6) conduct training and technical assistance site visits to aid courts implementing the CDRE project.

(CA/NCF)