Florida Senate - 2024 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS for SB 638
Ì2714460Î271446
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
02/09/2024 .
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The Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice
(Grall) recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete lines 86 - 162
4 and insert:
5 advocacy organization and may consult with the Florida Sheriffs
6 Association, the Florida Police Chiefs Association, and the
7 Florida Partnership to End Domestic Violence to develop the
8 policies, procedures, and training necessary for implementation
9 of a statewide evidence-based lethality assessment. Such
10 policies, procedures, and training must establish how to
11 determine whether a victim and aggressor are intimate partners
12 and establish a statewide process for referring a victim to a
13 certified domestic violence center. By January 1, 2025, the
14 department must adopt a statewide lethality assessment form that
15 includes all the information in paragraph (c). Training on how
16 to administer a lethality assessment and the approved lethality
17 assessment form must be accessible to a law enforcement officer
18 in an online format.
19 (a) By January 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, the
20 department shall submit a report to the President of the Senate
21 and the Speaker of the House of Representatives which must
22 include the current policies and procedures for administering a
23 lethality assessment, any proposed statutory changes necessary
24 for statewide implementation, and any proposed changes to the
25 lethality assessment or the lethality assessment form to
26 maintain compliance with evidence-based standards.
27 (b) By October 1, 2026, all law enforcement officers who
28 respond to or investigate crimes of domestic violence must be
29 trained on the policies and procedures for administering a
30 lethality assessment. A law enforcement officer may not
31 administer a lethality assessment to a victim if the officer has
32 not received training on administering a lethality assessment.
33 (c) To administer a lethality assessment, a law enforcement
34 officer shall ask the victim, in the same or similar wording and
35 in the same order, all of the following questions:
36 1. Did the aggressor ever use a weapon against you or
37 threaten you with a weapon?
38 2. Did the aggressor ever threaten to kill you or your
39 children?
40 3. Do you believe the aggressor will try to kill you?
41 4. Has the aggressor ever choked you or attempted to choke
42 you?
43 5. Does the aggressor have a gun or could the aggressor
44 easily obtain a gun?
45 6. Is the aggressor violently or constantly jealous, or
46 does the aggressor control most of your daily activities?
47 7. Did you leave or separate from the aggressor after you
48 were living together or married?
49 8. Is the aggressor unemployed?
50 9. To the best of your knowledge, has the aggressor ever
51 attempted suicide?
52 10. Do you have a child whom the aggressor believes is not
53 the aggressor’s biological child?
54 11. Has the aggressor ever followed, spied on, or left
55 threatening messages for you?
56 12. Is there anything else that worries you about your
57 safety and, if so, what worries you?
58 (d) A law enforcement officer shall advise a victim of the
59 results of the assessment and refer the victim to the nearest
60 locally certified domestic violence center if:
61 1. The victim answers affirmatively to any of the questions
62 provided in subparagraphs (c)1.-4.;
63 2. The victim answers negatively to the questions provided
64 in subparagraphs (c)1.-4., but affirmatively to at least four of
65 the questions provided in subparagraphs (c)5.-11.; or
66 3. As a result of the victim’s response to subparagraph
67 (c)12., the law enforcement officer believes the victim is in a
68 potentially lethal situation.
69 (e) If a victim does not, or is unable to, provide
70 information to a law enforcement officer sufficient to allow the
71 law enforcement officer to administer a lethality assessment,
72 the law enforcement officer must document the lack of a
73 lethality assessment in the written police report required in
74 subsection (3) and refer the victim to the nearest locally
75 certified domestic violence center.
76 (f) A law enforcement officer may not include in a probable
77 cause statement, written police report, or incident report the
78 domestic violence center to which a victim was referred.
79 (3)(2) When a law enforcement officer investigates an
80 allegation that an incident of domestic violence has occurred,
81 the officer shall handle the incident pursuant to the arrest
82 policy provided in s. 901.15(7), and as developed in accordance
83 with subsections (4), (5), and (6) (3), (4), and (5). Regardless
84 of whether or not an arrest is made, the officer shall make a
85 written police report that is complete and clearly indicates the
86 alleged offense was an incident of domestic violence. Such
87 report must shall be given to the officer’s supervisor and filed
88 with the law enforcement agency in a manner that will permit
89 data on domestic violence cases to be compiled. Such report must
90 include all of the following:
91 (a) A description of physical injuries observed, if any.
92 (b) If a law enforcement officer decides not to make an
93 arrest or decides to arrest two or more parties, the officer
94 shall include in the report the grounds for not arresting anyone
95 or for arresting two or more parties.
96 (c) A statement which indicates that a copy of the legal
97 rights and remedies notice was given to the victim.
98 (d) A notation of the score of a lethality assessment, if
99 one was
100
101 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
102 And the title is amended as follows:
103 Delete lines 7 - 18
104 and insert:
105 Enforcement to consult with specified entities, and
106 authorizing the department to consult with other
107 specified entities, to develop certain policies,
108 procedures, and training necessary for the
109 implementation of a statewide evidence-based lethality
110 assessment; requiring policies, procedures, and
111 training to establish how to determine whether a
112 victim and aggressor are intimate partners and
113 establish a statewide process for referring a victim
114 to a certified domestic violence center; requiring the
115 department to adopt a statewide lethality assessment
116 form by a specified date; requiring that training on
117 administering lethality assessments be available to
118 law enforcement officers in an online format;
119 requiring the department to submit a specified report
120 to the Legislature by a specified date; requiring
121 certain law enforcement officers to be trained on the
122 policies and procedures for administering a lethality
123 assessment; prohibiting a law enforcement officer from
124 administering a lethality assessment if he or she has
125 not received specified training; requiring law
126 enforcement officers administering a lethality
127 assessment to ask a victim specified questions;
128 requiring