Public Act 098-0717
HB4266 EnrolledLRB098 16014 RLC 51066 b
AN ACT concerning criminal law.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 3. The Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act is
amended by changing Section 8.5 as follows:
(725 ILCS 120/8.5)
Sec. 8.5. Statewide victim and witness notification
system.
(a) The Attorney General may establish a crime victim and
witness notification system to assist public officials in
carrying out their duties to notify and inform crime victims
and witnesses under Section 4.5 of this Act or under
subsections (a), (a-2), and (a-3) of Section 120 of the Sex
Offender Community Notification Law as the Attorney General
specifies by rule. The system shall download necessary
information from participating officials into its computers,
where it shall be maintained, updated, and automatically
transmitted to victims and witnesses by telephone, computer, or
written notice.
(b) The Illinois Department of Corrections, the Department
of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Human Services, and the
Prisoner Review Board shall cooperate with the Attorney General
in the implementation of this Section and shall provide
information as necessary to the effective operation of the
system.
(c) State's attorneys, circuit court clerks, and local law
enforcement and correctional authorities may enter into
agreements with the Attorney General for participation in the
system. The Attorney General may provide those who elect to
participate with the equipment, software, or training
necessary to bring their offices into the system.
(d) The provision of information to crime victims and
witnesses through the Attorney General's notification system
satisfies a given State or local official's corresponding
obligation to provide the information.
(e) The Attorney General may provide for telephonic,
electronic, or other public access to the database established
under this Section.
(f) The Attorney General shall adopt rules as necessary to
implement this Section. The rules shall include, but not be
limited to, provisions for the scope and operation of any
system the Attorney General may establish and procedures,
requirements, and standards for entering into agreements to
participate in the system and to receive equipment, software,
or training.
(g) There is established in the Office of the Attorney
General a Crime Victim and Witness Notification Advisory
Committee consisting of those victims advocates, sheriffs,
State's Attorneys, circuit court clerks, Illinois Department
of Corrections, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and
Prisoner Review Board employees that the Attorney General
chooses to appoint. The Attorney General shall designate one
member to chair the Committee.
(1) The Committee shall consult with and advise the
Attorney General as to the exercise of the Attorney
General's authority under this Section, including, but not
limited to:
(i) the design, scope, and operation of the
notification system;
(ii) the content of any rules adopted to implement
this Section;
(iii) the procurement of hardware, software, and
support for the system, including choice of supplier or
operator; and
(iv) the acceptance of agreements with and the
award of equipment, software, or training to officials
that seek to participate in the system.
(2) The Committee shall review the status and operation
of the system and report any findings and recommendations
for changes to the Attorney General and the General
Assembly by November 1 of each year.
(3) The members of the Committee shall receive no
compensation for their services as members of the
Committee, but may be reimbursed for their actual expenses
incurred in serving on the Committee.
(h) The Attorney General shall not release the names,
addresses, phone numbers, personal identification numbers, or
email addresses of any person registered to receive
notifications to any other person except State or local
officials using the notification system to satisfy the
official's obligation to provide the information. The Attorney
General may grant limited access to the Automated Victim
Notification system (AVN) to law enforcement, prosecution, and
other agencies that provide service to victims of violent crime
to assist victims in enrolling and utilizing the AVN system.
(Source: P.A. 96-1092, eff. 1-1-11.)
Section 5. The Unified Code of Corrections is amended by
changing Section 3-3-4 as follows:
(730 ILCS 5/3-3-4) (from Ch. 38, par. 1003-3-4)
Sec. 3-3-4. Preparation for Parole Hearing.
(a) The Prisoner Review Board shall consider the parole of
each eligible person committed to the Department of Corrections
at least 30 days prior to the date he or she shall first become
eligible for parole, and shall consider the aftercare release
of each person committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice
as a delinquent at least 30 days prior to the expiration of the
first year of confinement.
(b) A person eligible for parole or aftercare release
shall, no less than 15 days in advance of his or her parole
interview, prepare a parole or aftercare release plan in
accordance with the rules of the Prisoner Review Board. The
person shall be assisted in preparing his or her parole or
aftercare release plan by personnel of the Department of
Corrections, or the Department of Juvenile Justice in the case
of a person committed to that Department, and may, for this
purpose, be released on furlough under Article 11 or on
authorized absence under Section 3-9-4. The appropriate
Department shall also provide assistance in obtaining
information and records helpful to the individual for his or
her parole hearing. If the person eligible for parole or
aftercare release has a petition or any written submissions
prepared on his or her behalf by an attorney or other
representative, the attorney or representative for the person
eligible for parole or aftercare release must serve by
certified mail the State's Attorney of the county where he or
she was prosecuted with the petition or any written submissions
15 days after his or her parole interview. The State's Attorney
shall provide the attorney for the person eligible for parole
or aftercare release with a copy of his or her letter in
opposition to parole or aftercare release via certified mail
within 5 business days of the en banc hearing.
(c) Any member of the Board shall have access at all
reasonable times to any committed person and to his or her
master record file within the Department, and the Department
shall furnish such a report to the Board concerning the conduct
and character of any such person prior to his or her parole
interview.
(d) In making its determination of parole or aftercare
release, the Board shall consider:
(1) material transmitted to the Department of Juvenile
Justice by the clerk of the committing court under Section
5-4-1 or Section 5-10 of the Juvenile Court Act or Section
5-750 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987;
(2) the report under Section 3-8-2 or 3-10-2;
(3) a report by the Department and any report by the
chief administrative officer of the institution or
facility;
(4) a parole or aftercare release progress report;
(5) a medical and psychological report, if requested by
the Board;
(6) material in writing, or on film, video tape or
other electronic means in the form of a recording submitted
by the person whose parole or aftercare release is being
considered;
(7) material in writing, or on film, video tape or
other electronic means in the form of a recording or
testimony submitted by the State's Attorney and the victim
or a concerned citizen pursuant to the Rights of Crime
Victims and Witnesses Act; and
(8) the person's eligibility for commitment under the
Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act.
(e) The prosecuting State's Attorney's office shall
receive from the Board reasonable written notice not less than
30 days prior to the parole or aftercare release interview and
may submit relevant information by oral argument or testimony
of victims and concerned citizens, or both, in writing, or on
film, video tape or other electronic means or in the form of a
recording to the Board for its consideration. Upon written
request of the State's Attorney's office, the Prisoner Review
Board shall hear protests to parole, or aftercare release,
except in counties of 1,500,000 or more inhabitants where there
shall be standing objections to all such petitions. If a
State's Attorney who represents a county of less than 1,500,000
inhabitants requests a protest hearing, the inmate's counsel or
other representative shall also receive notice of such request.
This hearing shall take place the month following the inmate's
parole or aftercare release interview. If the inmate's parole
or aftercare release interview is rescheduled then the Prisoner
Review Board shall promptly notify the State's Attorney of the
new date. The person eligible for parole or aftercare release
shall be heard at the next scheduled en banc hearing date. If
the case is to be continued, the State's Attorney's office and
the attorney or representative for the person eligible for
parole or aftercare release will be notified of any continuance
within 5 business days. The State's Attorney may waive the
written notice.
(f) The victim of the violent crime for which the prisoner
has been sentenced shall receive notice of a parole or
aftercare release hearing as provided in paragraph (4) of
subsection (d) of Section 4.5 of the Rights of Crime Victims
and Witnesses Act.
(g) Any recording considered under the provisions of
subsection (d)(6), (d)(7) or (e) of this Section shall be in
the form designated by the Board. Such recording shall be both
visual and aural. Every voice on the recording and person
present shall be identified and the recording shall contain
either a visual or aural statement of the person submitting
such recording, the date of the recording and the name of the
person whose parole or aftercare release eligibility is being
considered. Such recordings shall be retained by the Board and
shall be deemed to be submitted at any subsequent parole or
aftercare release hearing if the victim or State's Attorney
submits in writing a declaration clearly identifying such
recording as representing the present position of the victim or
State's Attorney regarding the issues to be considered at the
parole or aftercare release hearing.
(h) The Board shall not release any material to the inmate,
the inmate's attorney, any third party, or any other person
containing any information from the victim or from a person
related to the victim by blood, adoption, or marriage who has
written objections, testified at any hearing, or submitted
audio or visual objections to the inmate's parole, or aftercare
release, unless provided with a waiver from that objecting
party. The Board shall not release the names or addresses of
any person on its victim registry to any other person except
the victim, a law enforcement agency, or other victim
notification system.
(Source: P.A. 97-523, eff. 1-1-12; 97-1075, eff. 8-24-12;
97-1083, eff. 8-24-12; 98-463, eff. 8-16-13; 98-558, eff.
1-1-14.)