Chicago Appleseed/Reclaim Campaign Bill HB 2897 (field testing bill) has just passed in the Illinois Senate

Illinois State Capitol, Photo by Daniel Schwen — Photo by Daniel Schwen

HB 2897, which establishes a pilot drug field-testing program for Cook County in order to shorten the length of time drug defendants are held in jail before their preliminary hearings, has just passed the Illinois Senate unanimously, 55-0, and is heading to the House for concurrence.

The bill was developed based off of a policy brief from Chicago Appleseed noting the long periods of time defendants are held in the jail before their preliminary hearings (the point at which probable cause is determined).

In 2010, 12,446 defendants were released from jail after their cases were dismissed – on average, detainees had spent 25 days in jail before dismissal. 45% (5,638) of those dismissals were drug charges–often-victimless cases that are relatively simple to assess. Not identifying these cases for dismissal early on not only runs afoul of basic notions of justice, but also represents a massive waste of resources.

Illinois statute contains one of the longest periods of times an individual must wait in jail after arrest before their preliminary hearings in the country — 30 days. Most states have their preliminary hearings maximum times within 14 days of arrest. New York state, for example, performs its preliminary hearings within 5 days of arrest.

For more information see our Proposed Preliminary Hearing Legislation Policy Brief.

The delay is worst with drug cases and is caused by the fact that the Chicago Police Department — unlike other police departments throughout the state and other large urban jurisdictions throughout the country — does not perform field testing of drugs. This lack of field testing results in every drug sample being sent to the Illinois State Crime Lab for 3-4 weeks before a preliminary hearing can be held.

HB 2897 establishes a pilot drug field testing program to be launched in Chicago this summer. An oversight committee comprising law enforcement representatives, as well as community representatives, and representatives selected by the Justice Advisory Council, will oversee pilot program, issue quarterly reports, and work toward reducing the time these individuals have to wait before their preliminary hearings.

After developing our policy brief on the preliminary hearing bill, Chicago Appleseed partnered with the Community Renewal Society as part of the Reclaim Campaign to organize behind and push this bill in Springfield. Senator Dan Harmon volunteered to be a sponsor. We are grateful to our partners and Senator Harmon for their hard work and leadership.