Overview
The Missouri State Highway Patrol's Statistical Analysis Center (SAC), has been asked to implement the federal Deaths in Custody Reporting Act (DICRA) of 2000 (Public Law 106-297). This Act requires the reporting of certain data on deaths of persons in the custody of law enforcement agencies, and deaths which result from lethal force by law enforcement officers.
The definition of the deaths at issue is: A death of an arrested person or an intended arrestee that occurs during the process of arrest, in the custody of law enforcement officers, or as the result of lethal force by officers. Further refinement of this definition is presented below. This reporting system is intended to complement another federal system that requires reporting on persons who die during incarceration, either in jails or prisons.
The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics (U.S. Department of Justice), which collects and maintains the data nationally, has directed states to report cases quarterly, going back initially to January 2003. SAC has asked all County Coroners and Medical Examiners to provide basic identifying information on any cases they suspect fit the definition given here. With this information, SAC obtains a death certificate and contacts the law enforcement agency involved for further information. Some referred cases may not be subject to this reporting requirement, but often this cannot be determined until the last stage of data collection with the law enforcement agency.
Included and Excluded Deaths
For cases which appear to be on the fringe of the definition given, some further guidelines for reporting are these:
We include deaths of persons arrested or subject to arrest who die:
- From any cause while in the physical custody or physical or practical restraint of law enforcement officers (even if no arrest has yet occurred);
- From any cause while in the physical custody or physical or practical restraint of law enforcement officers (even if no arrest has yet occurred);
- At a crime scene, in transit, in a booking or intake center, or medical facility, or in a police lock-up or jail prior to arraignment;
- As a result of lethal force by officers.
We exclude deaths:
- Which result from accidents, suicides or natural causes prior to being placed in custody or physical restraint, or prior to the use of force by officers;
- Of persons in formal locked confinement after arraignment (jail, detention center or prison);
- Of persons not intended to be arrested (bystanders, etc.).
Even though it is intended that the first notification of a possible DICRA case be provided to SAC by County Coroners and Medical Examiners, and later the CASEPOINT System, SAC would appreciate notice of such cases from law enforcement agencies as well. In these rare cases, it would not be surprising to miss the identification of some cases. We would rather hear about a case two or three times than miss it entirely. (Since all cases require individual identifying information, there is no chance that multiple referrals would result in a duplicate count.)