PRINTER'S NO. 984
No. 855 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, LEMMOND, BOSCOLA, ORIE, HOLL, KITCHEN,
MUSTO, SCARNATI, SCHWARTZ, STACK, TARTAGLIONE, TILGHMAN,
TOMLINSON AND WAUGH, MAY 7, 2001
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, MAY 7, 2001
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of April 27, 1927 (P.L.414, No.270), entitled
2 as amended, "An act providing for a system of recording the
3 identification of persons convicted of crime, and of
4 fugitives from justice, and habitual criminals; conferring
5 powers and imposing duties upon the Pennsylvania State
6 Police, district attorneys, police officers, wardens or
7 keepers of jails, prisons, workhouses, or other penal
8 institutions, and sheriffs; providing for the payment of
9 certain expenses by the counties; and imposing penalties,"
10 providing for a short title; defining "correctional
11 institution"; and further providing for criminal records, for
12 reporting, for fingerprinting, for unified criminal
13 identification, for district attorneys and for violations.
14 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
15 hereby enacts as follows:
16 Section 1. Sections 1 and 2 of the act of April 27, 1927
17 (P.L.414, No.270), entitled as amended, "An act providing for a
18 system of recording the identification of persons convicted of
19 crime, and of fugitives from justice, and habitual criminals;
20 conferring powers and imposing duties upon the Pennsylvania
21 State Police, district attorneys, police officers, wardens or
22 keepers of jails, prisons, workhouses, or other penal
23 institutions, and sheriffs; providing for the payment of certain
1 expenses by the counties; and imposing penalties," amended April
2 28, 1943 (P.L.119, No.61), are amended to read:
3 [Section 1. From and after the passage of this act, the
4 Pennsylvania State Police shall continue to procure and file for
5 record photographs, pictures, descriptions, fingerprints, and
6 such other information as may be pertinent, of all persons who
7 have been, or may hereafter be, convicted of crime within this
8 Commonwealth, and also of all well-known and habitual criminals
9 wherever they may be procured.
10 Section 2. It shall be the duty of the persons in charge of
11 any State penal institution, or of any jail, prison, or
12 workhouse within this Commonwealth, to furnish to the
13 Pennsylvania State Police, upon request, the fingerprints,
14 photographs, and description of any person detained in such
15 institution, jail, prison, or workhouse.]
16 Section 2. The act is amended by adding sections to read:
17 Section 1. Short Title.--This act shall be known and may be
18 cited as the Criminal Records and Fingerprinting Act.
19 Section 2. Definitions.--The following words, terms and
20 phrases, used in this act, are, for the purpose hereof, defined
21 as follows:
22 (a) The term "correctional institution" shall mean a penal
23 institution, penitentiary, State farm, reformatory, prison,
24 jail, house of correction or other institution operated by the
25 Commonwealth or a municipality for the incarceration or custody
26 of individuals under sentence for a criminal offense or awaiting
27 trial or sentence for a criminal offense.
28 Section 3. Criminal Records.--(a) The Pennsylvania State
29 Police shall procure and maintain a record of individuals who
30 are convicted of a criminal offense within this Commonwealth.
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1 The record shall contain photographs, pictures, descriptions,
2 fingerprints and such other information as may be pertinent to
3 identify the individual convicted of the offense.
4 (b) The Pennsylvania State Police shall procure and maintain
5 a record of habitual criminals. The record shall contain
6 photographs, pictures, descriptions, fingerprints and such other
7 information as may be pertinent to identify the individual.
8 Section 4. Reporting.--(a) Upon request by the Pennsylvania
9 State Police, the individual in charge of a correctional
10 institution shall provide to the Pennsylvania State Police the
11 fingerprints, photographs and description of all individuals
12 detained in the correctional institution.
13 (b) An individual in charge of a municipal law enforcement
14 agency shall, on a daily basis, provide the Pennsylvania State
15 Police with copies of the fingerprints and photographs of an
16 individual who is arrested within the agency's jurisdiction and
17 who is charged with the commission of a felony or who is
18 believed to be a fugitive from justice or a habitual criminal.
19 Fingerprints shall be taken on forms furnished or approved by
20 the Pennsylvania State Police. The Pennsylvania State Police
21 shall, immediately upon the receipt of the fingerprints and
22 photographs, compare them with those already in its files. If
23 the Pennsylvania State Police finds that any individual arrested
24 has a previous criminal record or is a fugitive from justice it
25 shall immediately inform the arresting officer or the officer
26 having custody of the individual of that fact.
27 (c) Upon discovery of an escape from a correctional
28 institution, the individual in charge of the correctional
29 institution shall immediately notify, by any verifiable means,
30 the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction of the escape from
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1 the institution. If the escape is from a State correctional
2 institution, the individual in charge of the State correctional
3 institution shall immediately notify the Pennsylvania State
4 Police of the escape. The Pennsylvania State Police shall notify
5 the State correctional institution and the Department of
6 Corrections when it assumes command of the pursuit and
7 apprehension efforts and may direct the State correctional
8 institution to terminate its pursuit.
9 Section 3. Section 3 of the act, amended July 13, 1961
10 (P.L.589, No.287), is amended to read:
11 Section [3.] 5. Fingerprinting.--The Pennsylvania State
12 Police, [the persons in charge of State penal institutions, the
13 wardens or keepers of jails, prisons, and workhouses within this
14 Commonwealth, and all] a police [officers within the several
15 political subdivisions of this Commonwealth, shall have the
16 authority to take,] officer and an individual in charge of a
17 correctional institution may take or cause to be taken[,] the
18 fingerprints or photographs of [any person] an individual in
19 custody[,] who is charged with the commission of [crime] a
20 criminal offense, or who [they have reason to believe] is
21 believed to be a fugitive from justice or a habitual criminal.[,
22 except persons charged with a violation of "The Vehicle Code"
23 which is punishable upon conviction in a summary proceeding
24 unless they have reason to believe the person is a fugitive from
25 justice or a habitual criminal; and it shall be the duty of the
26 chiefs of bureaus of all cities within this Commonwealth to
27 furnish daily, to the Pennsylvania State Police, copies of the
28 fingerprints and, if possible, photographs, of all persons
29 arrested within their jurisdiction charged with the commission
30 of felony, or who they have reason to believe are fugitives from
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1 justice or habitual criminals, such fingerprints to be taken on
2 forms furnished or approved by the Pennsylvania State Police. It
3 shall be the duty of the Pennsylvania State Police, immediately
4 upon the receipt of such records, to compare them with those
5 already in their files, and, if they find that any person
6 arrested has a previous criminal record or is a fugitive from
7 justice, forthwith to inform the arresting officer, or the
8 officer having the prisoner in charge, of such fact.]
9 Section 4. Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the act, amended April 28,
10 1943 (P.L.119, No.61), are amended to read:
11 Section [4. It shall be the duty of the] 6. Unified
12 Criminal Identification.--The Pennsylvania State Police [to]
13 shall cooperate with agencies of other States and of the United
14 States, having similar powers, to develop and carry on a
15 complete interstate, national[,] and international system of
16 criminal identification and investigation[, and also to]. The
17 Pennsylvania State Police shall furnish, upon request, any
18 information in its possession concerning any [person] individual
19 charged with [crime] a criminal offense to any court, district
20 attorney[,] or police officer of this Commonwealth, or of
21 another state or of the United States.
22 Section [5.] 7. District Attorneys.--(a) [The district
23 attorneys of the several counties are hereby authorized and
24 empowered, from time to time, to] A district attorney may employ
25 the services of [experts] an expert on fingerprints to assist
26 [them] the district attorney in the investigation of pending
27 cases and to testify [upon the trial thereof] at trial. The
28 compensation of [any such] the expert shall be fixed by the
29 district attorney [employing him, with the approval of the court
30 of quarter sessions,] and shall be paid from the county treasury
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1 [upon warrant of the county commissioners in the usual manner].
2 (b) [The] A district attorney [of any county, the warden or
3 keeper of the county jail, or any expert employed by the
4 district attorney], an individual in charge of a correctional
5 institution or any other person designated by the district
6 attorney[, shall have the power] may, upon the written order of
7 the district attorney, [to take the fingerprints of any persons]
8 fingerprint an individual confined in [the county jail of such
9 county] a correctional institution for use in the identification
10 of the [prisoner or upon his trial] individual or in the trial
11 of the individual.
12 (c) [The district attorneys of the several counties] A
13 district attorney shall keep and arrange files of [the]
14 fingerprints[, taken under the provisions of this act, of
15 persons] of individuals convicted of [crime] a criminal offense
16 and shall destroy the fingerprints of [all persons] individuals
17 acquitted. The files of fingerprints maintained by [the district
18 attorneys] a district attorney shall be open to the inspection
19 of any other district attorney [of this Commonwealth, or their
20 representatives, or of], the Pennsylvania State Police, [or any]
21 a sheriff or a police or peace officer.
22 (d) [District attorneys shall not be authorized to] A
23 district attorney may not take fingerprints[, under this
24 section, of persons] of an individual arrested for
25 [misdemeanors, unless] a misdemeanor unless the district
26 [attorneys have] attorney has reason to believe that [such
27 persons are old offenders against the penal laws of this
28 Commonwealth] the individual has committed an offense that is
29 graded a felony and has not been arrested for the felony
30 offense.
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1 Section [6. Neglect or refusal of any person mentioned in
2 this act to make the report required herein, or to do or perform
3 any other act on his part to be done or performed in connection
4 with the operation of this act, shall constitute] 8.
5 Violations.--An individual who fails to comply with the
6 requirements of this act commits a misdemeanor of the second
7 degree, and [such person] shall, upon conviction [thereof], be
8 [punished by] sentenced to pay a fine of not less than [five]
9 one hundred nor more than [twenty-five] five hundred dollars, or
10 [by] to imprisonment [in the county jail] for a period of not
11 exceeding thirty days, or [by] both[, in the discretion of the
12 court. Such neglect or refusal]. The conviction of an individual
13 for violation of this act shall also constitute a finding of
14 malfeasance in office and subject [such person] the individual
15 to removal from office. Any person who removes, destroys, or
16 mutilates any of the records of the Pennsylvania State Police[,
17 or of any] or a district attorney[, shall be guilty of a
18 misdemeanor, and such person] commits a felony of the third
19 degree and shall, upon conviction [thereof, be punished by], be
20 sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding one [hundred] thousand
21 dollars per record, or [by] to imprisonment [in the county jail]
22 for a period of not exceeding one year, or [by] both[, in the
23 discretion of the court].
24 Section 5. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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