14140-14143
PENAL CODE
SECTION 14140-14143
14140. (a) Each county is authorized and encouraged to create a county task force on violent crimes against women. The board of supervisors of a county which elects to create a task force under this section shall notify the California Emergency Management Agency that the county is establishing, by appointment, a countywide task force. Each county task force shall develop a countywide policy on violent crimes against women. (b) The California Emergency Management Agency may provide technical assistance to, and collect and disseminate information on, the county task forces established under this section. 14141. The purpose of each county task force may be as follows: (a) To promote a countywide policy on violent crimes against women. (b) To make recommendations on how to reduce violent crime. (c) To prepare and place counties in a strong position to compete for federal and state funds that may become available for the purposes of this title. (d) To facilitate coordination of services and responses between governmental agencies and between governmental agencies and nonprofit agencies serving women who are victims of violent crimes. (e) To initiate local domestic violence prevention planning and priorities for the use of federal and state domestic violence prevention grants. 14142. Each county task force may evaluate and make recommendations regarding the following: (a) The adequacy of current law enforcement efforts at the local level to reduce the rate of violent crimes against women. (b) The responsiveness of local prosecutors and the courts to violent crimes against women. (c) Local government efforts to reduce violent crimes against women. (d) Public awareness and public dissemination of information essential to the prevention of violent crimes against women. (e) The information collection and government statistics on the incidence and prevalence of violent crimes against women. (f) The adequacy of federal, state, and local laws on sexual assault and domestic violence and the need for more uniform statutory responses to sex offenses and domestic violence. (g) The need for services, including counseling, shelter, legal services, victim advocacy, and other supportive services, for women who are victims of violent crime. 14143. Every effort shall be made to ensure that the ethnic and racial composition of each task force is reflective of the ethnic and racial distribution of the persons and families in the community. Each county task force shall include, to the extent possible, but not be limited to, the following: (a) A criminal court judge. (b) A domestic relations or civil court judge. (c) A prosecuting attorney. (d) A city council person or other elected local governmental official. (e) Representatives from the Council of Cities, the Police Chief Association, the County Office of Education, the Public Defender Program, the County Bar Association, the Domestic Violence Coalition, health services, social services, probation, a women's organization, each of the battered women's shelters serving the county, each of the rape crisis centers serving the county, a legal services program, a homeless program serving women, other nonprofit community-based organizations whose primary focus is to assist the women who are victims of violent crimes, the Native Tribal Councils, and the county Commission on the Status of Women.