Criminal Justice

Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that the Department of Corrections shall ensure that a committed person and the committed person's correspondents are not charged any fee, surcharge, or cost for mail communication or mail scanning services that exceed the standard postage rate set by the United States Postal Service. Provides that the Department shall not charge the committed person or correspondent any fee, surcharge, or cost for any incoming mail addressed to and received by the committed person, including any material received through mail scanning services. Provides that the Department shall not charge the committed person any fee, surcharge, or cost for outgoing mail delivery or mail scanning services that exceeds the postage rate set by the United States Postal Service for any outgoing mail. Provides that the Department or any third-party vendor that the Department contracts with, shall not impose any fee, surcharge, or cost to the committed person above the United States Postal Service rate for mail communication, including the delivery or scanning of mail. Provides that the Department shall not use the provision of voice communication services, mail communication, mail scanning services, or any other communication services to supplant in-person contact visits. Provides that the Department shall not receive revenue, directly or indirectly, from the provision of voice communications, mail communication, mail scanning services, or other communication services to a person in custody in any institutions and facilities of the Department. Provides that beginning July 1, 2027, the Department shall annually report to the General Assembly on the status of any communication services contracts and plans to consolidate contracts to maximize purchasing power for voice communication services, mail communication services, and all other communication services. Provides that the Department shall post the report on its website. Effective immediately.

Amends the Illinois Police Training Act. Provides that the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board shall develop or approve a standard curriculum for certified training programs in the recognition of trauma-informed responses to traumatic events, adverse childhood experiences, and toxic stress among law enforcement. Provides that the training shall include (1) teaching officers how to define and distinguish between acute trauma, chronic trauma, cumulative occupational stress, adverse childhood experiences, and toxic stress; (2) teaching officers to recognize trauma-related responses in themselves and others through behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and physiological indicators of traumatic stress, including how these indicators may present during calls for service and during officer-public interaction; (3) teaching officers the impact of trauma and how occupational trauma exposure, moral injury, burnout, toxic work environments, and cumulative stress affect decision making, communication, performance, and well-being; (4) education on the effects of psychological safety on organizational culture of law enforcement and the immediate work environment; (5) ways to improve psychological safety through trauma-informed communication and interaction skills, such as reducing escalation and engaging peers and other officers in a compassionate, culturally responsive, and nonjudgmental manner; (6) techniques for compassionate, sensitive, and nonjudgmental service delivery, including trauma-responsive communication and de-escalation; (7) procedures for recognizing and responding to traumatically triggering situations and emphasize tools and techniques for achieving situationally optimal outcomes; and (8) comprehensive strategies and tools to manage the impact of trauma, cumulative occupational stress, adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress. Provides that the training must be presented in all full and part-time basic law enforcement academies on or before July 1, 2027. Provides that law enforcement agencies must present the training to all law enforcement officers within 3 years after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Provides that the Board shall evaluate training effectiveness through post-training assessments, ongoing officer feedback, wellness and safety metrics, and annual public reporting.

Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides that the amendatory Act may be referred to as the Daniel Capuano Memorial Act. Creates the offense of first responder endangerment. Provides that a person commits the offense when he or she knowingly creates a dangerous condition and intentionally conceals the dangerous condition in a commercial property under his or her management or operational control and the dangerous condition is found to be the primary cause of the death or serious bodily injury of a first responder in the course of his or her official duties. Provides that a violation is a Class 4 felony. Defines various terms.

Amends the Officers and Employees Article of the Counties Code. Allows public defenders who are representing a client in a criminal case to also represent the client in summary suspension or revocation hearings under a specified provision in the Illinois Vehicle Code.

Urges the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to identify and publish a list of evidence-based, decision-making, and impulse-control curricula that have been demonstrated to reduce violence involvement, make at least one free or low-cost curriculum available statewide for optional integration into existing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) instruction, encourage districts to implement these programs using existing resources and staff development, and develop, pilot, and rigorously test new school-based decision-making and violence-prevention curricula that can be easily adopted by ISBE and schools statewide if proven effective in reducing violence. Urges the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts (AOIC), the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), and county probation and diversion programs to identify and approve evidence-based, decision-making curricula appropriate for minors under supervision, diversion, or detention, to encourage their integration as standard early interventions, and to implement these initiatives within existing budgets and structures. Urges the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) and the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) to coordinate with ISBE, AOIC, DJJ, and local partners to align violence-prevention curricula and community-based interventions across settings. Recognizes Professor Jens Ludwig for his groundbreaking research, leadership, and publication of Unforgiving Places. Acknowledges the contributions of other scholars and organizations advancing behavioral approaches to violence prevention.

Amends the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. Provides that an abused minor includes a minor whose parent or immediate family member, or any person responsible for the minor's welfare, or any person who is in the same family or household as the minor, or any individual residing in the same home as the minor, or a paramour of the minor's parent who allows, encourages, or requires a minor to engage in panhandling with a person 18 years of age or older. Amends the Wrongs to Children Act. Provides that it is unlawful for a child under 18 years of age to engage in panhandling. Provides that a person 18 years of age or older who engages in panhandling with a person under 18 years of age shall be issued a citation by the peace officer who witnesses the violation. Provides that the officer's local law enforcement agency shall send a written or electronic notice to the Department of Children and Family Services that the person under 18 years of age is endangered by engaging in panhandling with a person 18 years years of age or older. Provides that any person 18 years of age or older who engages in panhandling with a person under 18 years of age is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor. Defines "citation" and "panhandling".

Amends the Court of Claims Act. Provides that the Court of Claims has exclusive jurisdiction to hear all claims against the State for time unjustly served in State prisons, in county jails, in county juvenile detention facilities, or in Illinois Youth Centers, on parole or probation, or registered as a sex offender if the person was unjustly convicted or adjudicated a delinquent and received a pardon from the Governor on the ground of innocence of the crime for which the person was convicted or adjudicated a delinquent or the person received a certificate of innocence. Removes language providing the amount of the award the court may give for a successful claim. Provides instead that the court shall make an award of $50,000 per year during which the person was wrongfully incarcerated and $25,000 for each year during which the person was wrongfully on parole or probation or required to register as a sex offender. Provides that the changes made by the amendatory Act apply to claims pending or filed on or after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Allows any person who is convicted or adjudicated a delinquent and then serves any part of a sentence of incarceration in a State prison, in a county jail, in a county juvenile detention facility, or in a Illinois Youth Center, on parole or probation, or registered as a sex offender (rather than convicted and subsequently imprisoned) for one or more felonies by the State that the person did not commit may file a petition for certificate of innocence. Requires the court to make an award of reasonable attorney's fees, costs, and expenses after awarding a certificate of innocence. Provides that any person seeking a certificate of innocence based on the dismissal of a juvenile delinquency petition or an acquittal that occurred before the effective date of the amendatory Act shall file a petition within 4 years after the effective date of the amendatory Act, and any person seeking a certificate of innocence based on the dismissal of a juvenile delinquency petition or an acquittal that occurred on or after the effective date of the amendatory Act shall file a petition within 2 years after the dismissal or acquittal. Effective immediately.

Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that notwithstanding any prior exclusion, any person incarcerated under an indeterminate sentence on the effective date of the amendatory Act whose minimum term was 20 years or more as of February 1, 1978, may elect to be resentenced under the 1978 determinate sentencing law. Provides that the election must be made in writing to the Department of Corrections, which shall inform all eligible persons within 60 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Provides that the Department of Corrections shall provide all necessary forms and assistance to eligible persons. Provides that upon election, the person's indeterminate sentence shall be converted to a determinate sentence consistent with the 1978 sentencing structure and the offense for which the person was convicted. Provides that time served shall be applied retroactively, and the person shall be credited with all sentence credits and earned time applicable under the law in effect since the date of original commitment. Provides that any person whose recalculated determinate sentence has been fully served shall be immediately released to a mandatory supervised release term under the terms applicable to the offense class and sentence length at the time of original sentencing. Provides that the Prisoner Review Board shall schedule hearings for eligible persons who elect the option within 180 days after receiving their request. Provides that thereafter, continued review shall occur no less frequently than every 12 months, unless earlier action is deemed by the Board to be appropriate. Provides that nothing in the provision shall be construed to require parole or mandatory supervised release for any person who does not elect the option, or who is otherwise ineligible. Effective immediately.

Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that a person under 21 years of age at the time of the commission of an offense or offenses, other than first degree murder, shall be eligible for sentencing review after serving 10 years or more of his or her sentence or cumulative sentences. Provides that a person under 21 years of age at the time of the commission of first degree murder shall be eligible for sentencing review after serving 20 years or more of his or her sentence or cumulative sentences, except for those subject to a term of natural life imprisonment under the Code or any person subject to sentencing for first degree murder for killing certain victims committed when the person was under 18 years of age, who shall be eligible for sentencing review after serving 30 years or more of his or her sentence or cumulative sentences. Establishes procedures for filing petitions for sentencing review and the manner in which hearings on those petitions are held. Provides that the Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council shall report on the impact of resentencing motions on the prison population contingent on having sufficient reliable data to support the analysis. Provides that the report shall be due 3 years after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Effective immediately.

Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Provides that notwithstanding any prior exclusion, any person incarcerated under an indeterminate sentence on the effective date of the amendatory Act whose minimum term was 20 years or more as of February 1, 1978, may elect to be resentenced under the 1978 determinate sentencing law. Provides that the election must be made in writing to the Department of Corrections, which shall inform all eligible persons within 60 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Provides that the Department of Corrections shall provide all necessary forms and assistance to eligible persons. Provides that upon election, the person's indeterminate sentence shall be converted to a determinate sentence consistent with the 1978 sentencing structure and the offense for which the person was convicted. Provides that time served shall be applied retroactively, and the person shall be credited with all sentence credits and earned time applicable under the law in effect since the date of original commitment. Provides that any person whose recalculated determinate sentence has been fully served shall be immediately released to a mandatory supervised release term under the terms applicable to the offense class and sentence length at the time of original sentencing. Provides that the Prisoner Review Board shall schedule hearings for eligible persons who elect the option within 180 days after receiving their request. Provides that thereafter, continued review shall occur no less frequently than every 12 months, unless earlier action is deemed by the Board to be appropriate. Provides that nothing in the provision shall be construed to require parole or mandatory supervised release for any person who does not elect the option, or who is otherwise ineligible. Effective immediately.