Welcome to the September 2023 Bureau of Justice Assistance Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA) training series.
This training will discuss arrest-related deaths. This is the fifth installment in a training series of videos to help states comply with DCRA, Public Law 113-242. This training will focus on how to report arrest-related death, including what is included as arrest-related death and what is not reportable under the DCRA law. The training will also discuss how to report manner of death and brief circumstances. A link to the slides can be found in the video description below.
SAAs should work closely with local and state agencies to obtain the information they are required to submit to BJA, which includes a decedent's demographic information; the date, time, and location of death; the name of the agency that had custody of the decedent; and a brief description of the circumstances surrounding the death. BJA recommends that states implement policies and procedures, as well as agreements with state and local agencies, to ensure complete decedent records are reported to the SAA in a timely manner.
States should report deaths of individuals who were under arrest or who died during the process of being arrested. The DCRA statute refers to deaths occurring under arrest or in the process of arrest as deaths occurring when: there was intent by law enforcement to detain or restrain; during active pursuit by law enforcement with intent to arrest or restrain; while in the process of being restrained, or in restraint, and/or under arrest; and when the arrested and/or restrained individual is en route to a different facility, for example, a diversion center, holding facility, jail, or lockup. Please take some time to review the additional reportable scenarios on the screen. If you have any questions about what is reportable, please do not hesitate to contact our team.
The following scenarios are examples of deaths that are not reportable under the DCRA law. Deaths occurring after police have terminated a pursuit are not reportable. Similarly deaths occurring due to car accidents where there was never any police involvement are not reportable. For example, if police are called to assist at the scene of a fatal accident, these deaths are not reportable. Overdose deaths occurring prior to police involvement are not reportable. For example, if police are called to the scene of an overdose and arrive to assist with no intention of arresting the individual, the death is not reportable. Deaths of bystanders who are not directly involved in the arrest or pursuit are not reportable. Homicide deaths occurring outside of jails and prisons are not reportable. For more information on nonreportable deaths, please review the DCRA Reporting Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions document available via the BJA Death in Custody Reporting Act webpage or contact our team directly.
When reporting facility types for arrest-related deaths occurring on scene, none of the above should be selected for Question 3D. However, if the decedent was transported to a jail following arrest and died there, "Municipal or county jail" should be selected. For agency, the name of the police department that was in process of arresting or had arrested the individual at time of death should be entered for Question 4. Please be sure to spell out the name of the department and do not abbreviate. If multiple police departments are involved and there is overlapping jurisdiction, please take care that the decedent is only reported once. Typically, the agency that initiated or was responsive to the actions leading to the death is the reporting agency. However, state and local agencies should communicate with each other to determine who should be the reporting entity.
In arrest-related scenarios, the manner of death will often be "Use of Force by Law Enforcement." BJA understands that at times, medical examiners rule these deaths as "homicide." However, for the purpose of the DCRA collection, "Use of Force" should be selected when deaths result from an officer's use of service weapon, physical altercation, or use of a pursuit intervention technique such as a PIT maneuver. For deaths resulting from car accidents occurring during active pursuit where no police intervention technique was employed, "Accident" should be selected as manner of death. For deaths resulting from overdoses that occurred during the process of arrest, "Other" should be selected with "Overdose" indicated in the open text response. Please take some time to review the other scenarios and corresponding manners of death in the table.
When writing brief circumstances, BJA asks that you provide as much detail as possible, specifically the who, what, when, where, and why. BJA should be able to discern that a death occurred during the process of arrest by reading details provided in the brief circumstances.
The following are some examples of insufficient and sufficient brief circumstances. As you can see with the examples presented, the sufficient brief circumstances provide details that allow BJA to clearly determine that the death occurred during the process of arrest. The sufficient examples also provide clear context as to whether the decedent was armed or resisting commands, as well as how many officers were involved in the incident. Furthermore, the sufficient circumstances support the selected manner of death. For example, when looking at "Accident," the sufficient brief circumstances indicate that the decedent lost control of his car without police using a pursuit intervention technique, which backs the selection of "Accident" rather than "Use of Force by Law Enforcement" for manner of death. This distinction would not have been possible if given the insufficient brief circumstances which only indicate death was proceeded by a motor vehicle pursuit.
Here are several additional sufficient brief circumstance examples. Again, these examples provide details about who was involved with the decedent prior to his or her death, as well as any lifesaving measures taken. Additionally, when possible, the brief circumstances should provide a more specific manner of death. In the first example, the manner of death is "Natural Causes." However, the brief circumstances allow BJA to see that the decedent died of a heart attack following an altercation with law enforcement. When in doubt, it is better to provide more detail than you may think is necessary.
Thank you for viewing our training on arrest-related 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.
