First Regular Session
Sixty-second General Assembly
LLS NO. 99-0657.01 Beth Braby HOUSE BILL 99-1221
STATE OF COLORADO
BY REPRESENTATIVES Sullivant and Gordon
JUDICIARY
A BILL FOR AN ACT
101 CONCERNING MANDATORY RECORDING OF INTERVIEWS OF CHILDREN
102 CONDUCTED AFTER A REPORT OF CHILD ABUSE.
Bill Summary
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does
not necessarily reflect any amendments that may be subsequently
adopted.)
Requires interviews of a child conducted after a report of child
abuse, including sexual child abuse, to be audiotaped or videotaped.
1 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:
2 SECTION 1. 19-3-308.5 (1) (a), Colorado Revised Statutes, is
3 amended to read:
4 19-3-308.5. Recorded interviews of child. (1) (a) Any interview
5 of a child conducted pursuant to section 19-3-308, concerning a report of
6 child abuse, may INCLUDING SEXUAL CHILD ABUSE, SHALL be audiotaped
7 or videotaped. However, interviews concerning reports of sexual child
8 abuse are strongly encouraged to be videotaped. Any audiotaped or
9 videotaped interview shall be conducted by a competent interviewer for
10 the agency responsible for the investigation in accordance with such
11 section. except that an interview shall not be videotaped when doing so
[ ] denotes HOUSE amendment. { } denotes SENATE amendment.
Capital letters indicate new material to be added to existing statute.
Dashes through the words indicate material to be deleted from existing statute.
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1 is impracticable under the circumstances or will result in trauma to the
2 child, as determined by the investigating agency. No more than one
3 videotaped interview shall be required unless the interviewer or the
4 investigating agency determines that additional interviews are necessary
5 to complete an investigation. ANY additional interviews shall be
6 conducted, to the extent possible, by the same interviewer. Such
7 recordings shall be preserved as evidence in the manner and for a period
8 provided by law for maintaining such evidence. In addition, access to
9 such recordings shall be subject to the rules of discovery under the
10 Colorado rules of criminal and civil procedure.
11 SECTION 2. Effective date - applicability. This act shall take
12 effect October 1, 1999, and shall apply to reports filed pursuant to section
13 19-3-308, Colorado Revised Statutes, on or after said date.
14 SECTION 3. Safety clause. The general assembly hereby finds,
15 determines, and declares that this act is necessary for the immediate
16 preservation of the public peace, health, and safety.