(a) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, whenever a person is committed to an institution under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, whether probation has been applied for or not, or granted and revoked, it shall be the duty of the probation officer of the county from which the person is committed to send to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation a report of the circumstances surrounding the offense and the prior record and history of the defendant, as may be required by the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
(2) If the person is being committed to the jurisdiction of the department for a conviction of an offense that requires him or her to register as a sex offender pursuant to Section 290, the probation officer shall include in the report the results of the State-Authorized Risk Assessment Tool for Sex Offenders (SARATSO) administered pursuant to Sections 290.04 to 290.06, inclusive, if applicable.
(b) These reports shall accompany the commitment papers. The reports shall be prepared in the form prescribed by the administrator following consultation with the Board of State and Community Corrections, except that if the defendant is ineligible for probation, a report of the circumstances surrounding the offense and the prior record and history of the defendant, prepared by the probation officer on request of the court and filed with the court before sentence, shall be deemed to meet the requirements of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).
(c) In order to allow the probation officer an opportunity to interview, for the purpose of preparation of these reports, the defendant shall be held in the county jail for 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, subsequent to imposition of sentence and prior to delivery to the custody of the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, unless the probation officer has indicated the need for a different period of time.
(d) Whenever a person is committed to an institution under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or a county jail pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170, or is placed on postrelease community supervision or mandatory supervision, and the court has ordered the person to pay restitution to a victim, the following shall apply:
(1) If the victim consents, the probation officer of the county from which the person is committed may send the victim’s contact information and a copy of the restitution order to the department or to the county agency designated by the board of supervisors to collect and distribute restitution for the sole purpose of distributing the restitution collected on behalf of the victim.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the district attorney of the county from which the person is committed may send the victim’s contact information and a copy of the restitution order to the department or to the county agency designated by the board of supervisors to collect and distribute restitution for the sole purpose of distributing the restitution collected on behalf of the victim if the district attorney finds it is in the best interest of the victim to send that information. If the victim affirmatively objects, the district attorney shall not send the victim’s contact information. The district attorney shall not be required to inform the victim of the right to object.
(3) The victim’s contact information shall remain confidential and shall not be made part of the court file or combined with any public document.
(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 517, Sec. 1. (SB 1197) Effective January 1, 2015.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018