SJ0036 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SJ0036 LRB102 21127 MST 30111 r

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is in great need of a state conviction integrity unit, run by the Attorney General's Office, to identify and overturn wrongful convictions and to set free those falsely imprisoned; and

WHEREAS, A conviction integrity unit investigates claims of innocence to determine whether new evidence gives rise to a substantial probability that the convicted defendant was not the person who committed the offense of conviction; a conviction integrity unit can also make recommendations about the appropriate remedy, if any, that should result from its findings; and

WHEREAS, The Attorney General's Office is best positioned to run a conviction integrity unit because its resources far exceed those of local prosecutors; and

WHEREAS, According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 78 prosecutors and attorneys general have created conviction integrity or review units in the past decade; 461 people have been freed due in part to work by these prosecutors; and

WHEREAS, Attorneys general in Washington D.C. and in eight states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, have launched conviction review units; and

WHEREAS, Since 2018, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, under Larry Krasner, has exonerated 17 people wrongly convicted of murder; Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby has cleared 10 people serving murder or attempted murder sentences since 2016; and

WHEREAS, A convictions integrity unit will aid in achieving and ensuring justice by investigating claims of innocence, remedying identified wrongful convictions, and providing proactive support and recommendations to the Attorney General's Office; and

WHEREAS, Conviction integrity units can assist in addressing racial inequity in the criminal justice system and mass incarceration; and

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois' goal should be for justice and truth instead of preserving convictions in defiance of logic, facts, or new evidence; to wrongly convict a person is to deny them untold opportunities and the chance to live their life in freedom; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the Office of the Attorney General to establish a task force to examine the creation of a statewide conviction integrity unit within its office; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Governor JB Pritzker.