Full Text of HJR0123 94th General Assembly
HJ0123 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, From 1990 to 2000, the number of African Americans | 3 |
| admitted to Illinois prisons for drug offenses grew six fold | 4 |
| from 1,421 to 9,088; in contrast, the number of Whites and | 5 |
| Hispanics admitted to prison for drug offenses remained | 6 |
| relatively stable; and
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| WHEREAS, In 2000, half of all African Americans admitted to | 8 |
| Illinois prisons were sentenced for drug offenses, compared | 9 |
| with 30% of Hispanics and 15% of Whites; and
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| WHEREAS, National studies found that Whites, African | 11 |
| Americans, and Hispanics use illegal drugs at similar rates, | 12 |
| and also that most users obtain drugs from people within their | 13 |
| own racial or ethnic background; and
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| WHEREAS, Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York City based | 15 |
| organization that investigates human rights violations around | 16 |
| the world, reported that in 2000 that Illinois ranked first in | 17 |
| the country with respect to Black White disparities in prison | 18 |
| sentences for drug crimes and African American men in Illinois | 19 |
| were 57 times more likely than White men in Illinois to be | 20 |
| sentenced to prison for drug crimes; and
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| WHEREAS, This unexpected and disturbing finding prompted | 22 |
| TASC and Loyola University Chicago to seek and obtain a | 23 |
| research grant from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information | 24 |
| Authority (ICJIA) for funding an investigation of the State's | 25 |
| apparent problem with disproportionate sentencing practices; | 26 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, In November, 2005, TASC and Loyola University | 28 |
| issued the report, The Disproportionate Incarceration of | 29 |
| African Americans for Drug Crimes: The Illinois Perspective, | 30 |
| which confirmed the disproportionate application of this |
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| State's criminal drug laws, and cited Section 407 of the | 2 |
| Illinois Controlled Substances Act (720 ILCS 570/407), as | 3 |
| amended during the first half of the 1990s, to be a significant | 4 |
| factor for the disparate impact which these laws have on | 5 |
| African American communities; and
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| WHEREAS, Section 407 of the Illinois Controlled Substances | 7 |
| Act (720 ILCS 570/407) prescribes a number of sentencing | 8 |
| enhancements that result in mandatory prison terms for any | 9 |
| possession or delivery of any controlled substance within a | 10 |
| 1,000 foot boundary of schools or school bus stops; public | 11 |
| housing properties or property leased by public housing | 12 |
| agencies, such as scattered site public housing; hospitals; | 13 |
| storefront churches and other places of worship; nursing homes | 14 |
| and other facilities for the care of the elderly; and elevates | 15 |
| to a felony, offenses that would be misdemeanors absent the | 16 |
| 1,000 foot or safe zone enhancements; and | 17 |
| WHEREAS, The TASC and Loyola University researchers | 18 |
| concluded that these restrictions are most common in poor, | 19 |
| African American neighborhoods, which, per capita have more | 20 |
| public housing units and storefront churches than any other | 21 |
| communities in the city; and | 22 |
| WHEREAS, This statute which requires mandatory minimum | 23 |
| prison terms, denies judges the discretion to determine the | 24 |
| appropriate penalty on a case-by-case basis; and
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| WHEREAS, The Justice Policy Institute (JPI) recently | 26 |
| issued a report, Disparity by Design: How Drug-free Zone Laws | 27 |
| Impact Racial Disparity - and Fail to Protect Youth, which | 28 |
| found that from the laws that heighten penalties for drug | 29 |
| activity near schools, public housing and other designated | 30 |
| locations fail to protect youth; and | 31 |
| WHEREAS, JPI found that drug-free zone laws erode the |
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| constitutional right to trial by forcing defendants to plead | 2 |
| guilty or risk long prison terms; and | 3 |
| WHEREAS, JPI also found that communities of color are | 4 |
| disproportionately impacted by drug-free school zone laws | 5 |
| because densely populated urban neighborhoods, where people of | 6 |
| color are more likely to live, are blanketed by prohibited | 7 |
| zones, while rural and suburban neighborhoods are less | 8 |
| affected; and | 9 |
| WHEREAS, JPI found that in New Jersey, three-quarters of | 10 |
| Newark, and over half of Jersey City and Camden, fall within a | 11 |
| zone compared to just 6% of rural Mansfield Township and the | 12 |
| result of this "urban effect" is what New Jersey's sentencing | 13 |
| commission terms "a devastatingly disproportionate impact on | 14 |
| New Jersey's minority community"; and | 15 |
| WHEREAS, JPI found that in New Jersey, Blacks and Hispanics | 16 |
| make up just a quarter of the State's resident population, | 17 |
| while they comprise 96% of prisoners serving time for drug-free | 18 |
| zone offenses; and | 19 |
| WHEREAS, JPI found that in Connecticut cities where the | 20 |
| majority of residents are nonwhite have 10 times more zones per | 21 |
| square mile than localities where less than 10% of residents | 22 |
| are black or Hispanic; and | 23 |
| WHEREAS, JPI found that Blacks and Hispanics account for | 24 |
| just 20% of Massachusetts residents but 80% of drug-free zone | 25 |
| cases; and | 26 |
| WHEREAS, Utah's parole board recommended replacing the | 27 |
| drug-free zone enhancement with an enhancement for only those | 28 |
| convicted of selling or manufacturing drugs in the presence of | 29 |
| children; and |
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| WHEREAS, The New Jersey Sentencing Commission could find no | 2 |
| deterrent effect of the drug-free zone law; and | 3 |
| WHEREAS, The New Jersey Sentencing Commission found that | 4 |
| fewer than one in 10 arrests takes place just outside the | 5 |
| zones, while the number of drug-free zone arrests has risen | 6 |
| since the law was enacted, rather than falling - as would be | 7 |
| expected if drug sellers had moved their activity to avoid | 8 |
| prohibited zones; and | 9 |
| WHEREAS, The New Jersey Sentencing Commission concluded | 10 |
| that the size of the zones erodes their deterrent effect and | 11 |
| recommended that zones be narrowed from 1,000 to 200 feet; and | 12 |
| WHEREAS, The New Jersey Sentencing Commission concluded | 13 |
| that reducing the size of prohibited zones will accomplish 2 | 14 |
| objectives: more effectively deter drug activity that occurs | 15 |
| within sight of schools and other protected locations; and | 16 |
| lessen the impact of mandatory sentencing on urban communities, | 17 |
| thereby reducing racial disparities; and | 18 |
| WHEREAS, The Connecticut legislature is considering a bill | 19 |
| that would reduce the scope of the zones from 1,500 to 200 | 20 |
| feet, and would require postings to mark the boundaries; | 21 |
| therefore, be it | 22 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 23 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 24 |
| SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that there is hereby established a | 25 |
| Legislative Task Force on Drug Free Zones ("the Task Force"); | 26 |
| and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall have 8 members of the | 28 |
| General Assembly, appointed 2 each by the President of the | 29 |
| Senate, the Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the | 30 |
| House of Representatives, and the Minority Leader of the House |
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| of Representatives; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall conduct hearings and | 3 |
| complete a comprehensive examination of the State's laws which | 4 |
| were intended to create drug free zones to determine: (a) the | 5 |
| effectiveness of the laws, (b) whether these laws have a | 6 |
| disparate impact on African American communities, and (c) | 7 |
| whether these laws should be amended to (i) more effectively | 8 |
| deter drug activity that occurs within sight of schools and | 9 |
| other protected locations; and (ii) lessen the impact of | 10 |
| mandatory sentencing on urban communities, thereby reducing | 11 |
| racial disparities; and be it further | 12 |
| RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall report its findings and | 13 |
| recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly in a | 14 |
| final report which shall be filed on or before April 1, 2007; | 15 |
| the requirement for reporting to the General Assembly shall be | 16 |
| satisfied by filing copies of the report with the Speaker, the | 17 |
| Minority Leader, and the Clerk of the House of Representatives | 18 |
| and the President, the Minority Leader, and the Secretary of | 19 |
| the Senate and the Legislative Research Unit, as required by | 20 |
| Section 3.1 of the General Assembly Organization Act, and | 21 |
| filing additional copies with the State Government Report | 22 |
| Distribution Center for the General Assembly as required under | 23 |
| paragraph (t) of Section 7 of the State Library Act; and be it | 24 |
| further
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| RESOLVED, That the report shall include, but need not be | 26 |
| limited to, the following:
(1) an assessment of the collateral | 27 |
| consequences of the State's laws which were intended to create | 28 |
| drug free zones;
(2) an assessment of the effectiveness of | 29 |
| these laws;
(3) an assessment as to whether these laws have a | 30 |
| disparate impact on African Americans;
(4) an assessment as to | 31 |
| whether these laws tend to erode the constitutional right to | 32 |
| trial by forcing defendants to plead guilty or risk long prison | 33 |
| terms; and
(5) recommendations for legislative changes |
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| necessary to correct those problems (if any) identified by the | 2 |
| Task Force.
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