California Penal Code Section 741 (AB 2778) - Race-Blind Charging mandate

Beginning January 1, 2024, the California Department of Justice must develop, issue, and publish "Race-Blind Charging" guidelines under which prosecution agencies perform an initial review of a case for potential charging based on information — including police reports and criminal histories — from which direct means of identifying the race of the suspect, victim, or witness have been removed or redacted. Beginning January 1, 2025, agencies must redact this information for a race-blind initial charging evaluation that precedes the ordinary charging evaluation, before a second, complete review using unredacted reports determines the individual charges. Certain crimes — including homicides, hate crimes, domestic violence and sex crimes, and gang crimes — may be excluded from the process. Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 806, Sec. 2 (AB 2778), effective January 1, 2023.