NCJ Number
117740
Date Published
1989
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This memorandum details the AIDS testing procedure to be followed by local deputy district attorneys.
Abstract
The notice should be sent where, based on the police reports, nature of the crime, or other information, there is reason to believe that blood, semen, or a bodily fluid described in a regulation by the State Department of Health Services as being capable of transmitting the HIV virus has been transferred from the accused to the victim. Immediate testing will prevent the spread of the disease in the event that the test is positive. The penal code allows the victim of any crime to request a search warrant to administer a blood test of the defendant or charged juvenile for AIDS if there is probable cause to believe that the accused committed the offense and was capable of transmitting the AIDS virus. The results will be sent to the defendant and to the victim and, if the defendant is in custody, to the medical officer of the custodial facility. A test of the defendant's blood is also available upon the petition of a peace officer, firefighter, or emergency medical personnel, or the employing agency, if the defendant is charged with interfering with official duty by biting, scratching, spitting, or transferring blood or other bodily fluids. The court is required to order any person convicted of rape, statutory rape, spousal rape, sodomy, or oral copulation to submit to an AIDS test. This also applies to those persons convicted of prostitution. Law enforcement officers and prisoners are allowed to file reports if they believe they have come into contact with bodily fluids of an inmate, arrestee, probationer, or parolee. Appropriate forms to be filed are listed.