Rep. Jack D. Franks

Filed: 2/26/2016

 

 


 

 


 
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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, under the Criminal
10Identification Act, systematic statewide information on the
11racial and ethnic composition of adults diverted from arrest by
12law enforcement and diverted from prosecution by each county's
13State's Attorney's office is not available. Therefore, it is
14the intent of this legislation to provide a mechanism by which
15statewide data on the race and ethnicity of offenders diverted
16from the criminal justice system before the filing of a court
17case can be provided by the criminal justice entity involved
18for future racial disparity impact analyses of the criminal
19justice system.
 
20    Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
21    "Arrested but released without being charged" means the
22taking into custody of a person by a law enforcement agency and
23his or her subsequent release without a formal charge filed.
24    "Authority" means the Illinois Criminal Justice
25Information Authority.

 

 

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1    "Diversion from prosecution" means the placement of the
2defendant into any specialized program by the State's
3Attorney's office, after which formal charges are dismissed,
4subject 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 categorized under subsection (b) of Section 4.5 of
13the Criminal Identification Act.
 
14    Section 15. Reporting; publication.
15    (a) Under the reporting guidelines for law enforcement
16agencies in Sections 2.1, 4.5, and 5 of the Criminal
17Identification Act, the Authority shall determine and report
18the number of persons arrested and released without being
19charged, and report the racial and ethnic composition of those
20persons.
21    (b) Under the reporting guidelines for State's Attorneys in
22Sections 2.1, 4.5, and 5 of the Criminal Identification Act,
23the Authority shall determine and report the number of persons
24for which formal charges were dismissed, and the race and
25ethnicity of those persons.

 

 

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1    (c) Under the reporting guidelines for circuit court clerks
2in Sections 2.1, 4.5, and 5 of the Criminal Identification Act,
3the Authority shall determine and report the number of persons
4admitted to a diversion from prosecution program, and the
5racial and ethnic composition of those persons, separated by
6each type of diversion program.
7    (d) The Authority shall publish the information received
8and an assessment of the quality of the information received,
9aggregated to the county level in the case of law enforcement
10reports, on its publicly available website for the previous
11calendar year, as affirmed by each reporting agency at the time
12of its report submission.
13    (e) The Authority, Department of State Police,
14Administrative Office of Illinois Courts, and Illinois State's
15Attorneys Association may collaborate on any necessary
16training concerning the provisions of this Act.
 
17    Section 20. Repeal. This Act is repealed on December 31,
182020.
 
19    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
201, 2017.".