2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 41. Minors › Chapter 3. Child Abuse and Neglect › Part 2. Reports and Investigations › 41-3-210. County attorney duties -- certification -- retention of records -- reports to attorney general and legislature -- attorney general report

41-3-210. County attorney duties -- certification -- retention of records -- reports to attorney general and legislature -- attorney general report.
(1) (a) The county attorney shall gather all case notes, correspondence, evaluations, interviews, and other investigative materials pertaining to each report from the department or investigation by law enforcement of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child made within the county when the alleged perpetrator of the sexual abuse or sexual exploitation is 12 years of age or older. After a report is made or an investigation is commenced, the following individuals or entities shall provide to the county attorney all case notes, correspondence, evaluations, interviews, and other investigative materials related to the report or investigation:
(i) the department;
(ii) state and local law enforcement; and
(iii) all members of a county or regional interdisciplinary child information and school safety team established under 52-2-211.
(b) The duty to provide records to the county attorney under subsection (1)(a) remains throughout the course of an investigation, an abuse and neglect proceeding conducted pursuant to this part, or the prosecution of a case involving the sexual abuse of a child or sexual exploitation of a child.
(c) Upon receipt of a report from the department, as required in 41-3-202, that includes an allegation of sexual abuse of a child or sexual exploitation of a child, the county attorney shall certify in writing to the person who initially reported the information that the county attorney received the report. The certification must include the date the report was received and the age and gender of the alleged victim. If the report was anonymous, the county attorney shall provide the certification to the department. If the report was made to the county attorney by a law enforcement officer, the county attorney is not required to provide the certification.
(2) The county attorney shall retain records relating to the report or investigation, including the certification, case notes, correspondence, evaluations, videotapes, and interviews, for 25 years.
(3) On or before January 1 and June 1 of each year, each county attorney shall report to the attorney general. The report to the attorney general must include, for each report from the department or investigation by law enforcement:
(a) a unique case identifier;
(b) the date that the initial report or allegation was received by the county attorney;
(c) the date any charges were filed;
(d) the date of any decision to decline to prosecute;
(e) if charges are filed against a defendant, whether a conviction was obtained and, if a conviction was obtained, the sentence imposed by the court; and
(f) the number of certifications made as required by subsection (1)(c), including the number of certifications made to the department.
(4) (a) The attorney general shall create a form for county attorneys to use when submitting reports required by subsection (3). The form must allow collection of the information required by subsection (3) on an aggregated, cumulative basis for a 5-year period until charges are filed or a decision is made to decline to prosecute.
(b) The information provided by a county attorney on the forms is confidential criminal justice information as defined in 44-5-103.
(5) The attorney general shall report to the law and justice interim committee each year by August 15 and as provided in 5-11-210. The reports must provide:
(a) aggregated information regarding the status of the cases reported in subsection (3) by the county attorneys, except for those cases pending review of the county attorney or uncharged cases still under investigation, including data on the total number of cases reported;
(b) the number of cases declined for prosecution;
(c) the number of cases charged;
(d) any action in the past fiscal year that the attorney general took under the authority of 2-15-501 based on the reports submitted as required in subsection (3). A report made pursuant to this subsection (5)(d) may not include the name of the county.
(e) after consideration of the information provided by the department pursuant to 41-3-211, any county attorney who failed to provide a complete report required by subsection (3).
History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 367, L. 2019; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 364, L. 2021; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 195, L. 2023.