Welcome to the September 2023 Bureau of Justice Assistance Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA) training series.
This training will discuss reportable and non-reportable deaths. This is the second installment in a training series designed to help states comply with DCRA; Public Law 113-242.
This training will focus on reportable and non-reportable deaths according to the DCRA law. We will address what "in custody" refers to under DCRA, as well as reportable death scenarios in prisons, jails, and arrest-related incidents. The training will also provide examples of non-reportable deaths. A link to the slides can be found in the video description below.
What does "in custody" include when considering the DCRA law? Let's break the statute down into two parts.
The first half of the DCRA statute requires states to report to the Attorney General information regarding the death of any person who is either detained, under arrest, or in the process of being arrested. In other words, any death that occurs as law enforcement is attempting to arrest or detain, or has arrested or detained an individual, is reportable under DCRA. We will cover this in greater detail later on in this training.
The second half of the DCRA statute requires states to report the deaths of any individual who is en route to be incarcerated; or is incarcerated at a municipal or county jail, state prison, state-run boot camp prison, boot camp prison that is contracted out by the state, any state or local contract facility, or other local or state correctional facility including any juvenile facility. We will break this down further in the next few slides.
States should report all deaths occurring in any correctional facility that functions as a prison, including state-run prisons, private prisons, prison boot camps, juvenile facilities, and halfway houses or treatment centers that are under contract with the state. This includes deaths that occur due to an altercation with another incarcerated individual or facility staff, during transport to and from facilities, and any death that occurs after an incarcerated individual is transferred to a hospital. See our training video in this series, How to Report Prison-based Deaths, for more information.
States should report any death occurring when an individual is detained by a police department in a municipal or county jail or detention center, as well as any death occurring in a halfway house, work-release center, or treatment center under contract with the state. This includes deaths that occur due to an altercation with another incarcerated individual or facility staff during transport to and from the facility, and any death that occurs after a detained individual is transferred to a hospital. See our training video in this series, How to Report Jail-based Deaths, for more information.
States should report deaths of individuals who are under arrest or who died during the process of being arrested. The DCRA statute defines death occurring under arrest or in the process of arrest as death occurring when there was intent by law enforcement to detain or restrain, during active pursuit by law enforcement with the intent to arrest or restrain, while in the process of being restrained or in restraint and/or under arrest, and any death that occurs when a person is arrested and/or restrained and is en route to a different facility. For example, a diversion center, holding facility, jail, or lockup. See our training video in this series, How To Report Arrest-related Deaths, for more information.
The table below outlines common arrest-related death scenarios and which manner of death should be selected for each one. "Use of Force" should be selected as manner of death for any death resulting from physical altercation or use of restraint, taser, or service weapon. "Use of Force" also includes deaths that occur following pursuit tactics such as a PIT Maneuver or a Tactical Vehicle Intervention. Although the medical examiner may officially rule deaths resulted from force as "Homicide," BJA asks that these deaths be coded as "Use of Force" for the purpose of the DCRA data collection.
If police are pursuing an individual and that individual loses control of their vehicle not due to police intervention tactics, "Accident" should be selected as the manner of death.
If an individual is engaged with law enforcement in the standoff and uses his or her own weapon to complete suicide, the manner of death selected should be "Suicide."
Overdose deaths are only reportable if they occur while an individual is actively in custody in a prison, jail, halfway house or treatment center under state contract, or during the process of arrest. For example, police are called to a scene where an individual is acting erratically. Officers place the individual in handcuffs, but soon after he loses consciousness and is unable to be revived. The cause of death is later determined to be fentanyl toxicity. The death is reportable because the individual was detained at the time of death. On the other hand, overdoses that occur prior to police arriving on scene are not reportable because officers were not attempting to detain or arrest the individual.
The following are examples of non-reportable deaths, with a few exceptions. Deaths that occur while an individual's on parole or probation are generally not reportable. The exception to this is if the individual dies during the process of arrest, or if the individual is paroled to finish his or her sentence in a halfway house or treatment center that is under a state contract, and dies within the facility. An example of a non-reportable death would be if an individual is released on parole and is found deceased several days later at his home. Deaths occurring following medical parole or compassionate release are not reportable. However, deaths of individuals on medical furlough are reportable as they would have been expected to return to the jail or prison following treatment. Work-release deaths are not reportable except when the death occurs within a work-release center under state contract. Please note, deaths of individuals who are under supervision, who die while outside of the confines of their location of custody, are not reportable. For example, if the death occurs while the individual is outside of the facility on work-release assignment, it is not reportable. Deaths occurring when an individual is being tracked by an ankle monitor, or similar GPS device, are not reportable; unless, the death occurs while the individual is being arrested. Deaths occurring at halfway houses that are not under state contract are not reportable unless the death occurs while the individual is being arrested. Deaths of police officers and corrections officers are not reportable. These deaths are reportable to the FBI's UCR program.
Here are some additional non-reportable deaths. Deaths due to a car accident where there was no police involvement are not reportable. Deaths occurring due to car accidents that occur after an active pursuit has ended are not reportable. Deaths of bystanders are not reportable. Victims of homicides that do not occur in correctional facilities are not reportable. Thank you for viewing our training on reportable and non-reportable deaths.
If you have any questions, please contact the BJA PMT Helpdesk. Our office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, except federal holidays.
For general questions about DCRA, please contact James Steyee at [email protected]. We also offer no-cost training and technical assistance through our DCRA TTA provider, Justice Information Resource Network.
BJA thanks SAAs for their hard work and dedication to complete and accurate DCRA reporting.
