Honorable Joe Moody, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1207 by Guillen (Relating to the statute of limitations for tampering with certain physical evidence.), As Introduced
The bill would extend the statute of limitations from three years to no limitation for tampering with or fabricating physical evidence if the evidence tampered with is a human corpse or related in certain circumstances to a criminal homicide.
Removing limitations on when a felony indictment for a criminal offense may be presented may result in additional demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.
In fiscal year 2022, there were 5,501 individuals arrested, 588 individuals placed on adult community supervision, 114 individual placed on juvenile probation supervision, 659 individuals admitted into an adult state correctional institution, and no individuals admitted to a juvenile state correctional institution for the felony offense of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
While the number of additional indictments for the felony offense of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence which might be presented where the evidence is a human corpse or related in certain circumstances to a criminal homicide is unknown, it is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.