California · Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC

WIC §4142: (a) Notwithstanding any other law, whenever a patient is committed to the State Department of State Hospitals, a director of a state hospital or a clinician, as defined in subdivision (f), shall obtai

Civil

What this law says, in plain English

State hospital directors and clinicians may obtain criminal history information from law enforcement to assess patient violence risk, placement, and treatment. Unauthorized disclosure of this information is a misdemeanor.

Read the full statutory text

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, whenever a patient is committed to the State Department of State Hospitals, a director of a state hospital or a clinician, as defined in subdivision (f), shall obtain the state summary criminal history information for the patient. The information shall be used to assess the violence risk of a patient, to assess the appropriate placement of a patient, to treat a patient, to prepare periodic reports as required by statute, or to determine the patient’s progress or fitness for release. The state summary criminal history information shall be placed in the patient’s confidential file for the duration of his or her commitment. (b) The information may be obtained through use of the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS). Law enforcement personnel shall cooperate with requests for state summary criminal history information authorized pursuant to this section and shall provide the information to the requesting entity in a timely manner. (c) A law enforcement officer or person authorized by this section to receive the information who obtains the information in the record and knowingly provides the information to a person not authorized by law to receive the information is guilty of a misdemeanor as specified in Section 11142 of the Penal Code. (d) Information obtained pursuant to this section shall not be used for any purposes other than those described in subdivision (a). (e) For purposes of this section, the State Department of State Hospitals law enforcement personnel, pursuant to Section 830.38 of the Penal Code, may act as the law enforcement personnel described in subdivision (b). (f) For purposes of this section, “clinician” means a state licensed mental health professional working within the State Department of State Hospitals who has received, and is current in, CLETS training that is appropriate for a person who has ongoing access to information from the CLETS and is not a CLETS operator, following the policies on training, compliance, and inspection required by the Department of Justice. (g) State summary criminal history information secured pursuant to this section shall remain confidential and access shall be limited to the director of the state hospital and the clinician. Within 30 days of discharge from the state hospital, the state summary criminal history information shall be removed from the patient’s file and destroyed.

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