HB1437 EngrossedLRB099 04138 JLK 24158 b

1    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
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,
17information on the racial composition of offenders at each
18stage of the criminal justice system must be systematically
19gathered and analyzed to lay the foundation for determining the
20impact of proposed remedies. Gaps of information at any stage
21will hamper valid analysis at subsequent stages. At the
22earliest stages of the criminal justice system, systematic
23statewide information on arrested persons, including race and

 

 

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1ethnicity, is collected in the State Police Criminal History
2Record Information System. However, under the Criminal
3Identification Act, systematic statewide information on the
4racial and ethnic composition of adults diverted from arrest by
5law enforcement and diverted from prosecution by each county's
6State's Attorney's office is not available. Therefore, it is
7the intent of this legislation to provide a mechanism by which
8statewide data on the race and ethnicity of offenders diverted
9from the criminal justice system before the filing of a court
10case can be provided by the criminal justice entity involved
11for future racial disparity impact analyses of the criminal
12justice system.
 
13    Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
14    "Arrested but released without being charged" means the
15taking into custody of a person by a law enforcement agency and
16his or her subsequent release without a formal charge filed.
17    "Authority" means the Illinois Criminal Justice
18Information Authority.
19    "Diversion from prosecution" means the placement of the
20defendant into any specialized program by the State's
21Attorney's office, after which formal charges are dismissed,
22subject to successful completion of the program.
23    "Law enforcement agency" means any agency of this State or
24a political subdivision of this State that is vested by law
25with the duty to maintain public order and to enforce criminal

 

 

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1laws.
2    "Racial and ethnic information" means categories of
3socially significant groupings by which individuals identify
4themselves, based on physical characteristics and cultural
5heritage, as categorized under subsection (b) of Section 4.5 of
6the Criminal Identification Act.
 
7    Section 15. Reporting; publication.
8    (a) Under the reporting guidelines for law enforcement
9agencies in Sections 2.1, 4.5, and 5 of the Criminal
10Identification Act, the Authority shall determine and report
11the number of persons arrested and released without being
12charged, and report the racial and ethnic composition of those
13persons.
14    (b) Under the reporting guidelines for State's Attorneys in
15Sections 2.1, 4.5, and 5 of the Criminal Identification Act,
16the Authority shall determine and report the number of persons
17for which formal charges were dismissed, and the race and
18ethnicity of those persons.
19    (c) Under the reporting guidelines for circuit court clerks
20in Sections 2.1, 4.5, and 5 of the Criminal Identification Act,
21the Authority shall determine and report the number of persons
22admitted to a diversion from prosecution program, and the
23racial and ethnic composition of those persons, separated by
24each type of diversion program.
25    (d) The Authority shall publish the information received

 

 

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1and an assessment of the quality of 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 report submission.
6    (e) The Authority, Department of State Police,
7Administrative Office of Illinois Courts, and Illinois State's
8Attorneys Association may collaborate on any necessary
9training concerning the provisions of this Act.
 
10    Section 20. Repeal. This Act is repealed on December 31,
112020.
 
12    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
131, 2017.