Per the statute, states are to report “...information regarding the death of any person who is detained, under arrest, or is in the process of being arrested, is en route to be incarcerated, or is incarcerated at a municipal or county jail, state prison, state-run boot camp prison, boot camp prison that is contracted out by the state, any state or local contract facility, or other local or state correctional facility (including any juvenile facility).” (Reference: Section IV, #1 of BJA's Death in Custody Reporting Act FAQ).

Based on this definition, agencies should be aware what constitutes a reportable death in custody is very broad and not confined to decedents who were arrested or incarcerated. If someone dies while interacting with a member of law enforcement or corrections while performing their enforcement duties, it is a reportable incident under this act. For example, death in custody reporting is required even if a decedent dies of natural causes (such as by a heart attack) during a traffic stop (Reference: Section IV, #6 of BJA's Death in Custody Reporting Act FAQ).

For more information on what constitutes a reportable death in custody, please see Section IV of BJA's Death in Custody Reporting Act FAQ.

Deaths in custody, as defined by statute, should be reported to CJG by all state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as, correctional agencies regardless of whether or not they receive JAG funding.

Death in Custody information to be collected includes:

• The decedent's first, middle, and last name, gender, race, ethnicity, and year of birth;
• The date, time, and location of the death;
• Type of facility in which the death occurred;
• Date of facility admission/arrest;
• The law enforcement or correctional agency involved;
• Manner of death; and
• Brief description of circumstances of death.

State and local law enforcement agencies, as well as, correctional agencies who have a death in custody occur within their jurisdiction must complete and submit a Death in Custody Questionnaire to CJG.

Death in Custody Questionnaires should be submitted via email to CJG’s CJgrants@fdle.state.fl.us mailbox.

Questionnaires should be submitted to CJG by no later than the 15th of the month following the end of each quarter (i.e., January 15th, April 15th, July 15th, & October 15th).

Yes. BJA's DCRA initiative is completely separate from the FBI's Use of Force Initiative. DCRA data is collected by CJG through Death in Custody Questionnaires and reported through BJA's Performance Measurement Tool (PMT). Use of Force data is collected by FDLE's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) program through the Florida Incident-Based Reporting System (FIBRS). For more information on these initiatives, their differences and similarities, please see the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA)'s DCRA Primer.

The agency's DCRA Point of Contact should submit an email to CJgrants@fdle.state.fl.us stating no reportable deaths occurred within their jurisdiction during the quarter.

If multiple agencies where involved during an incident in which a death in custody occurred, the agency who held primary responsibility/jurisdiction is considered responsible for completing and submitting the Death in Custody Questionnaire.

If a death in custody occurred during a quarter it should still be reported regardless of whether or not an investigation is ongoing. The agency reporting should submit the questionnaire indicating the investigation of the death in custody is pending/ongoing and submit an updated questionnaire once the investigation has concluded.

Generally speaking, deaths of individuals who are on house arrest or work release are not reportable. The exception would be if the death was the result of some type of “arrest related” interaction or interaction with law enforcement or correctional personnel.

While all three initiatives collect death in custody data, the MCI and Use of Force initiatives only collect death in custody data for certain scenarios. The DCRA initiative is intended to capture death in custody data for all scenarios. Each of these initiatives collects slightly different death in custody data with some information overlap. For more information on these three initiatives, their differences and similarities, please see the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA)'s DCRA Primer.

The DCRA requires States to report the “death of any person who is detained, under arrest, or is in the process of being arrested, is en route to be incarcerated, or is incarcerated at a municipal or county jail, State prison, State-run boot camp prison, boot camp prison that is contracted out by the State, any State or local contract facility, or other local or State correctional facility (including any juvenile facility).” As such, the law does not specifically require states to collect information on reportable deaths from Tribal entities and report them to the BJA’s DCRA Program.