Rep. Jack D. Franks

Filed: 3/19/2015

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1437

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1437 by replacing
3everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
4    "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5Criminal Diversion Racial Impact Data Collection Act.
 
6    Section 5. Legislative intent. Racial and ethnic disparity
7in the criminal justice system, or the over-representation of
8certain minority groups compared to their representation in the
9general population, has been well documented, along with the
10harmful effects of such disproportionality. There is no single
11cause of the racial and ethnic disparity evident at every stage
12of the criminal justice system; suggested causes have included
13differing patterns of criminal activity, law enforcement
14activity, and discretionary decisions of criminal justice
15practitioners, along with effects of legislative policies. In
16order to make progress in reducing this harmful phenomenon,

 

 

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1information on the racial composition of offenders at each
2stage of the criminal justice system must be systematically
3gathered and analyzed to lay the foundation for determining the
4impact of proposed remedies. Gaps of information at any stage
5will hamper valid analysis at subsequent stages. At the
6earliest stages of the criminal justice system, systematic
7statewide information on arrested persons, including race and
8ethnicity, is collected in the State Police Criminal History
9Record Information System. However, systematic statewide
10information on the racial and ethnic composition of adults
11diverted from arrest by law enforcement and diverted from
12prosecution by each county's State's Attorney's office is not
13available. Therefore, it is the intent of this legislation to
14provide a mechanism by which statewide data on the race and
15ethnicity of offenders diverted from the criminal justice
16system before the filing of a court case can be provided by the
17criminal justice entity involved for future racial disparity
18impact analyses of the criminal justice system.
 
19    Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
20    "Arrested but released without charging" means the taking
21into custody of a person by a law enforcement agency and his or
22her subsequent release without a formal charge filed.
23    "Authority" means the Illinois Criminal Justice
24Information Authority.
25    "Diversion from prosecution" means the declination to file

 

 

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1charges by the State's Attorney due to lack of probable cause
2or the placement of the defendant into any specialized program
3by the State's Attorney's office, after which no formal charges
4are filed, subject to successful completion of the program.
5    "Law enforcement agency" means any agency of this State or
6a political subdivision of this State that is vested by law
7with the duty to maintain public order and to enforce criminal
8laws.
9    "Racial and ethnic information" means categories of
10socially significant groupings by which individuals identify
11themselves, based on physical characteristics and cultural
12heritage, as defined by the United States Office of Management
13and Budget.
 
14    Section 15. Reporting; publication.
15    (a) Every law enforcement agency shall submit monthly
16written reports to the Authority identifying the number of
17persons arrested but released without charging and the racial
18and ethnic composition of those persons.
19    (b) Every State's Attorney's office shall submit monthly
20written reports to the Authority identifying (i) the number of
21persons for which formal charges were declined to be filed and
22the racial and ethnic composition of those persons, and (ii)
23the number of persons admitted to a diversion from prosecution
24program and the racial and ethnic composition of those persons,
25separated by each type of diversion program.

 

 

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1    (c) The Authority shall publish the information received,
2aggregated to the county level in the case of law enforcement
3reports, on its publicly available website for the previous
4calendar year, as affirmed by each reporting agency at the time
5of its monthly report submission.
 
6    Section 20. Repeal. This Act is repealed on December 31,
72020.
 
8    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
9becoming law.".