Montana Code 44-5-213. Procedures to ensure accuracy of criminal history records
44-5-213. Procedures to ensure accuracy of criminal history records. In order to ensure complete and accurate criminal history record information:
Terms Used In Montana Code 44-5-213
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Criminal history record information: means information about individuals collected by criminal justice agencies consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests; detentions; the filing of complaints, indictments, or informations and dispositions arising from complaints, indictments, or informations; sentences; correctional status; and release. See Montana Code 44-5-103
- Criminal justice agency: means :
(a)any court with criminal jurisdiction;
(b)any federal, state, or local government agency designated by statute or by a governor's executive order to perform as its principal function the administration of criminal justice, including a governmental fire agency organized under Title 7, chapter 33, or a fire marshal who conducts criminal investigations of fires;
(c)any local government agency not included under subsection (7)(b) that performs as its principal function the administration of criminal justice pursuant to an ordinance or local executive order; or
(d)any agency of a foreign nation that has been designated by that nation's law or chief executive officer to perform as its principal function the administration of criminal justice and that has been approved for the receipt of criminal justice information by the Montana attorney general, who may consult with the United States department of justice. See Montana Code 44-5-103
- Criminal justice information: means information relating to criminal justice collected, processed, or preserved by a criminal justice agency. See Montana Code 44-5-103
- Disposition: means information disclosing that criminal proceedings against an individual have terminated and describing the nature of the termination or information relating to sentencing, correctional supervision, release from correctional supervision, the outcome of appellate or collateral review of criminal proceedings, or executive clemency. See Montana Code 44-5-103
- Dissemination: means the communication or transfer of criminal justice information to individuals or agencies other than the criminal justice agency that maintains the information. See Montana Code 44-5-103
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- State repository: means the recordkeeping systems maintained by the department of justice pursuant to 44-2-201 in which criminal history record information is collected, processed, preserved, and disseminated. See Montana Code 44-5-103
(1)the department of justice shall maintain a centralized state repository of criminal history record information to serve all criminal justice agencies in the state;
(2)dispositions resulting from formal proceedings in a court having jurisdiction in a criminal action against an individual who has been photographed and fingerprinted under 44-5-202 shall be reported to the originating agency and the state repository within 15 days. If the dispositions can readily be collected and reported through the court system, the dispositions may be submitted to the state repository by the administrative office of the courts.
(3)an originating agency shall advise the state repository within 30 days of all dispositions concerning the termination of criminal proceedings against an individual who has been photographed and fingerprinted under 44-5-202;
(4)the department of corrections shall advise the state repository within 30 days of all dispositions subsequent to conviction of an individual who has been photographed and fingerprinted under 44-5-202;
(5)each criminal justice agency shall query the state repository prior to dissemination of any criminal history record information to ensure the timeliness of the information. When no final disposition is shown by the state repository records, the state repository shall query the source of the document or other appropriate source for current status. Inquiries must be made prior to any dissemination except in those cases in which time is of the essence and the repository is technically incapable of responding within the necessary time period. If time is of the essence, the inquiry must still be made and the response must be forwarded as soon as it is received.
(6)each criminal justice agency shall ensure that all its criminal justice information is complete, accurate, and current; and
(7)the department of justice shall adopt rules for criminal justice agencies other than those that are part of the judicial branch of government to implement this section. The department of justice may adopt rules for the same purpose for the judicial branch of government if the supreme court consents to the rules.