(a) The Office of Prosecution Services shall develop and maintain a pretrial diversion offender database. Any existing or newly created pretrial diversion program, regardless of whether it was established by this division or created by local law, municipal ordinance, or other administrative action, or is an existing district attorney or municipal pretrial diversion program, shall be subject to this section. Upon entry into any pretrial diversion program, the district attorney or municipal prosecutor shall submit information, including the name, date of birth, and identifying personal vital information of a participating offender. The district attorney or municipal prosecutor shall also submit the criminal statute or municipal ordinance violated, a brief description of any underlying qualifying offense, and a brief description of the agreed upon disposition of the offense. If the offender was prematurely terminated from the program, a brief description of the reasons for the termination shall be submitted for inclusion into the database.
(b) Information in the database concerning any applicant may be used by any district attorney in determining admittance into a pretrial diversion program or its equivalent. A district attorney may submit prior pretrial diversion dispositions from any jurisdiction contained within the database to the court for the purpose of assisting the court in its ruling with regard to sentencing, a ruling on youthful offender, or any first offender or first offender-type judicial determination. Nothing in this division shall prohibit any district attorney from entering pretrial diversion dispositions of offenders, pursuant to this section, that were previously disposed of in a pretrial diversion program or its equivalent, prior to this division. Unless otherwise provided for by law, information contained in the database shall only be accessible by court order, the district attorney, or other law enforcement agency. In no event shall a prosecuting agency be charged for accessing the information in the database.
(c) Any information submitted pursuant to this section whereby the offender has been adjudicated or convicted as a youthful offender shall be sealed pursuant to state law. This information may only be retrieved from the database or used upon an order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
(d) Within 30 days of entry of the applicant into a pretrial diversion program, seven dollars ($7) per applicant shall be paid by the district attorney or municipality if the applicant is from a municipality, to the Office of Prosecution Services for creation and maintenance of the offender database described in this section, regardless of whether the program was created pursuant to this division, a local act, a municipal ordinance, or an administrative action authorizing a pretrial diversion program, or any existing district attorney or municipal pretrial diversion program.
Last modified: May 3, 2021