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| 1 | AN ACT concerning State government.
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| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | ||||||
| 5 | Criminal Diversion Racial Impact Data Collection Act. | ||||||
| 6 | Section 5. Legislative intent. Racial and ethnic disparity | ||||||
| 7 | in the criminal justice system, or the over-representation of | ||||||
| 8 | certain minority groups compared to their representation in the | ||||||
| 9 | general population, has been well documented, along with the | ||||||
| 10 | harmful effects of such disproportionality. There is no single | ||||||
| 11 | cause of the racial and ethnic disparity evident at every stage | ||||||
| 12 | of the criminal justice system; suggested causes have included | ||||||
| 13 | differing patterns of criminal activity, law enforcement | ||||||
| 14 | activity, and discretionary decisions of criminal justice | ||||||
| 15 | practitioners, along with effects of legislative policies. In | ||||||
| 16 | order to make progress in reducing this harmful phenomenon, | ||||||
| 17 | information on the racial composition of offenders at each | ||||||
| 18 | stage of the criminal justice system must be systematically | ||||||
| 19 | gathered and analyzed to lay the foundation for determining the | ||||||
| 20 | impact of proposed remedies. Gaps of information at any stage | ||||||
| 21 | will hamper valid analysis at subsequent stages. At the | ||||||
| 22 | earliest stages of the criminal justice system, systematic | ||||||
| 23 | statewide information on arrested persons, including race and | ||||||
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| 1 | ethnicity, is collected in the State Police Criminal History | ||||||
| 2 | Record Information System. However, under the Criminal | ||||||
| 3 | Identification Act, systematic statewide information on the | ||||||
| 4 | racial and ethnic composition of adults diverted from arrest by | ||||||
| 5 | law enforcement and diverted from prosecution by each county's | ||||||
| 6 | State's Attorney's office is not available. Therefore, it is | ||||||
| 7 | the intent of this legislation to provide a mechanism by which | ||||||
| 8 | statewide data on the race and ethnicity of offenders diverted | ||||||
| 9 | from the criminal justice system before the filing of a court | ||||||
| 10 | case can be provided by the criminal justice entity involved | ||||||
| 11 | for future racial disparity impact analyses of the criminal | ||||||
| 12 | justice system. | ||||||
| 13 | Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act: | ||||||
| 14 | "Arrested but released without being charged" means the | ||||||
| 15 | taking into custody of a person by a law enforcement agency and | ||||||
| 16 | his or her subsequent release without a formal charge filed. | ||||||
| 17 | "Authority" means the Illinois Criminal Justice | ||||||
| 18 | Information Authority. | ||||||
| 19 | "Diversion from prosecution" means the placement of the | ||||||
| 20 | defendant into any specialized program by the State's | ||||||
| 21 | Attorney's office, after which formal charges are dismissed, | ||||||
| 22 | subject to successful completion of the program. | ||||||
| 23 | "Law enforcement agency" means any agency of this State or | ||||||
| 24 | a political subdivision of this State that is vested by law | ||||||
| 25 | with the duty to maintain public order and to enforce criminal | ||||||
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| 1 | laws. | ||||||
| 2 | "Racial and ethnic information" means categories of | ||||||
| 3 | socially significant groupings by which individuals identify | ||||||
| 4 | themselves, based on physical characteristics and cultural | ||||||
| 5 | heritage, as categorized under subsection (b) of Section 4.5 of | ||||||
| 6 | the Criminal Identification Act. | ||||||
| 7 | Section 15. Reporting; publication. | ||||||
| 8 | (a) Under the reporting guidelines for law enforcement | ||||||
| 9 | agencies in Sections 2.1, 4.5, and 5 of the Criminal | ||||||
| 10 | Identification Act, the Authority shall determine and report | ||||||
| 11 | the number of persons arrested and released without being | ||||||
| 12 | charged, and report the racial and ethnic composition of those | ||||||
| 13 | persons.
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| 14 | (b) Under the reporting guidelines for State's Attorneys in | ||||||
| 15 | Sections 2.1, 4.5, and 5 of the Criminal Identification Act, | ||||||
| 16 | the Authority shall determine and report the number of persons | ||||||
| 17 | for which formal charges were dismissed, and the race and | ||||||
| 18 | ethnicity of those persons.
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| 19 | (c) Under the reporting guidelines for circuit court clerks | ||||||
| 20 | in Sections 2.1, 4.5, and 5 of the Criminal Identification Act, | ||||||
| 21 | the Authority shall determine and report the number of persons | ||||||
| 22 | admitted to a diversion from prosecution program, and the | ||||||
| 23 | racial and ethnic composition of those persons, separated by | ||||||
| 24 | each type of diversion program. | ||||||
| 25 | (d) The Authority shall publish the information received | ||||||
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| 1 | and an assessment of the quality of the information received, | ||||||
| 2 | aggregated to the county level in the case of law enforcement | ||||||
| 3 | reports, on its publicly available website for the previous | ||||||
| 4 | calendar year, as affirmed by each reporting agency at the time | ||||||
| 5 | of its report submission.
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| 6 | (e) The Authority, Department of State Police, | ||||||
| 7 | Administrative Office of Illinois Courts, and Illinois State's | ||||||
| 8 | Attorneys Association may collaborate on any necessary | ||||||
| 9 | training concerning the provisions of this Act. | ||||||
| 10 | Section 20. Repeal. This Act is repealed on December 31, | ||||||
| 11 | 2020.
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| 12 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January | ||||||
| 13 | 1, 2017.
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