I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1412 

To increase public confidence in the justice system and address any 

unwarranted racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal process. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 10, 2009 

Mr. COHEN (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms. 

FUDGE, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. GRIJALVA, 

Ms. CLARKE, Mr. HINCHEY, and Mr. GUTIERREZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To increase public confidence in the justice system and address any unwarranted racial and ethnic disparities in 

the criminal process. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Justice Integrity Act 

5 of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the pursuit of justice requires the fair appli9 cation of the law; 


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1 (2) racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal 

2 process have contributed to a growing perception of 

3 bias in the criminal justice system; 

4 (3) there are a variety of possible causes of dis5 parities in criminal justice statistics among racial 

6 and ethnic groups and these causes may differ 

7 throughout the United States, including crime rates, 

8 racial discrimination, ethnic and cultural insen9 sitivity, or unconscious bias, as well as other factors; 

10 (4) the Nation would benefit from an under11 standing of all factors causing a disparate impact on 

12 the criminal justice system; and 

13 (5) programs that promote fairness will in14 crease public confidence in the criminal justice sys15 tem, increase public safety, and further the pursuit 

16 of justice. 

17 SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall 

20 establish a pilot program in 10 United States districts in 

21 order to promote fairness, and the perception of fairness, 

22 in the Federal criminal justice system, and to determine 

23 whether legislation is required. 

24 (b) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 (1) U.S. ATTORNEYS.—The Attorney General 

2 shall designate, in accordance with paragraph (3), 

3 10 United States Attorneys who shall each imple4 ment a plan in accordance with section 4, beginning 

5 not later than 1 month after those United States At6 torneys are designated by the Attorney General. 

7 (2) PURPOSE.—The purposes of the plans re8 quired by this section are— 

9 (A) to gather racial and ethnic data on in10 vestigations and prosecutions in the United 

11 States districts and the causes of disparities, if 

12 any; 

13 (B) to determine the extent to which the 

14 communities’ perception of bias has affected 

15 confidence in the Federal criminal justice sys16 tem; 

17 (C) to analyze whether measures may be 

18 taken to reduce unwarranted disparities, if any, 

19 and increase confidence in the criminal justice 

20 system; and 

21 (D) to make recommendations, to the ex22 tent possible, to ensure that law enforcement 

23 priorities and initiatives, charging and plea bar24 gaining decisions, sentencing recommendations, 

25 and other steps within the criminal process are 


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1 not influenced by racial and ethnic stereotyping 

2 or bias, and do not produce unwarranted dis3 parities from otherwise neutral laws or policies. 

4 (3) CRITERIA FOR SELECTION.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The 10 pilot districts 

6 referred to in subsection (a) shall include dis7 tricts of varying compositions with respect to 

8 size, case load, geography, and racial and ethnic 

9 composition. 

10 (B) METROPOLITAN AREAS.—At least 3 of 

11 the United States Attorneys designated by the 

12 Attorney General shall be in Federal districts 

13 encompassing metropolitan areas. 

14 SEC. 4. PLAN AND REPORT. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

16 (1) UNITED STATES ATTORNEY.—Each United 

17 States Attorney shall, in consultation with an advi18 sory group appointed in accordance with paragraph 

19 (2), develop and implement a plan in accordance 

20 with subsections (b) and (c). 

21 (2) ADVISORY GROUP.— 

22 (A) APPOINTMENT.—Not later than 90 

23 days after designation by the Attorney General, 

24 the United States Attorney in each of the 10 

25 pilot districts selected pursuant to section 3 


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1 shall appoint an advisory group, after consulta2 tion with the chief judge of the district and 

3 criminal justice professionals within the district. 

4 (B) MEMBERSHIP.—The advisory group of 

5 a United States Attorney shall include— 

6 (i) 1 or more senior social scientists 

7 with expertise in research methods or sta8 tistics; and 

9 (ii) individuals and entities who play 

10 important roles in the criminal justice 

11 process and have broad-based community 

12 representation such as— 

13 (I) Federal and State prosecu14 tors; 

15 (II) Federal and State defenders, 

16 if present in the district, and private 

17 defense counsel; 

18 (III) Federal and State judges; 

19 (IV) Federal and State law en20 forcement officials and union rep21 resentatives; 

22 (V) a member of the United 

23 States Sentencing Commission or des24 ignee; 


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1 (VI) parole and probation offi2 cers; 

3 (VII) correctional officers; 

4 (VIII) victim’s rights representa5 tives; 

6 (IX) civil rights organizations; 

7 (X) business and professional 

8 representatives; and 

9 (XI) faith based organizations 

10 that provide services to people in11 volved in the criminal justice system. 

12 (C) TERM LIMIT.—Subject to subpara13 graph (D), a member of the advisory group 

14 shall not serve longer than 5 years. 

15 (D) PERMANENT MEMBERS.—Notwith16 standing subparagraph (C), the following shall 

17 be permanent members of the advisory group 

18 for that district: 

19 (i) The chief judge for the judicial dis20 trict. 

21 (ii) The Federal defender for the judi22 cial district. 

23 (iii) The United States Attorney for 

24 the judicial district. 


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1 (E) REPORTER.—The United States Attor2 ney may designate a reporter for each advisory 

3 group, who may be compensated in accordance 

4 with guidelines established by the Executive Of5 fice of the United States Attorneys. 

6 (F) INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS.—The 

7 members of an advisory group of a United 

8 States Attorney and any person designated as 

9 a reporter for such group— 

10 (i) shall be considered independent 

11 contractors of the United States Attorney’s 

12 Office when in the performance of official 

13 duties of the advisory group; and 

14 (ii) may not, solely by reason of serv15 ice on or for the advisory group, be prohib16 ited from practicing law before any court. 

17 (b) DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A

18 PLAN AND REPORT.— 

19 (1) ADVISORY GROUP REPORT.—The advisory 

20 group appointed under subsection (a)(2) shall— 

21 (A)(i) systematically collect and analyze 

22 quantitative data on the race and ethnicity of 

23 the defendant and victim at each stage of pros24 ecution, including case intake, bail requests, 

25 declinations, selection of charges, diversion from 


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1 prosecution or incarceration, plea offers, sen2 tencing recommendations, fast-track sentencing, 

3 and use of alternative sanctions; and 

4 (ii) at a minimum, collect aggregate data 

5 capable of individualization and tracking 

6 through the system so that any cumulative ra7 cial or ethnic disadvantage can be analyzed; 

8 (B) seek to determine the causes of racial 

9 and ethnic disparities in a district, and whether 

10 these disparities are substantially explained by 

11 sound law enforcement policies or if they are at 

12 least partially attributable to discrimination, in13 sensitivity, or unconscious bias; 

14 (C) examine the extent to which racial and 

15 ethnic disparities are attributable to— 

16 (i) law enforcement priorities, pros17 ecutorial priorities, the substantive provi18 sions of legislation enacted by Congress; or 

19 (ii) the penalty schemes enacted by 

20 Congress or implemented by the United 

21 States Sentencing Commission; 

22 (D) examine data including— 

23 (i) the racial and ethnic demographics 

24 of the United States Attorney’s district; 


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1 (ii) defendants charged in all cat2 egories of offense by race and ethnicity, 

3 and, where applicable, the race and eth4 nicity of any identified victim; 

5 (iii) recommendations for sentencing 

6 enhancements and reductions, including 

7 the filing of substantial assistance motions, 

8 whether at sentencing or post-conviction, 

9 by race and ethnicity; 

10 (iv) charging policies, including deci11 sions as to who should be charged in Fed12 eral rather than State court when either 

13 forum is available, and whether these poli14 cies tend to result in racial or ethnic dis15 parities among defendants charged in Fed16 eral court, including whether relative dis17 parities exist between State and Federal 

18 defendants charged with similar offenses; 

19 (v) the racial and ethnic composition 

20 of the Federal prosecutors in the district; 

21 and 

22 (vi) the extent to which training in 

23 the exercise of discretion, including cul24 tural competency, is provided prosecutors; 


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1 (E) consult with an educational or inde2 pendent research group, if necessary, to conduct 

3 work under this subsection; and 

4 (F) submit to the United States Attorney 

5 by the end of the second year after their initial 

6 appointment a report and proposed plan, which 

7 shall be made available to the public and which 

8 shall include— 

9 (i) factual findings and conclusions on 

10 racial and ethnic disparities, if any, and 

11 the State of public confidence in the crimi12 nal process; 

13 (ii) recommended measures, rules, and 

14 programs for reducing unjustified dispari15 ties, if any, and increasing public con16 fidence; and 

17 (iii) an explanation of the manner in 

18 which the recommended plan complies with 

19 this paragraph. 

20 (2) ADOPTION OF PLAN.—Not later than 60 

21 days after receiving and considering the advisory 

22 group’s report and proposed plan under paragraph 

23 (1), the United States Attorney appointed under sec24 tion 3 shall adopt and implement a plan. 


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1 (3) COPY OF REPORT.—The United States At2 torney shall transmit a copy of the plan and report 

3 adopted and implemented, in accordance with this 

4 subsection, together with the report and plan rec5 ommended by the advisory group, to the Attorney 

6 General. The United States Attorney shall include 

7 with the plan an explanation of any recommendation 

8 of the advisory group that is not included in the 

9 plan. 

10 (4) CONGRESS.—The Attorney General shall 

11 transmit to the United States Attorney’s in every 

12 Federal district and to the Committees on the Judi13 ciary of the Senate and the House of Representa14 tives copies of any plan and accompanying report 

15 submitted by a pilot district. 

16 (c) PERIODIC UNITED STATES ATTORNEY ASSESS17 MENT.—After adopting and implementing a plan under 

18 subsection (b), each United States Attorney in a pilot dis19 trict shall annually evaluate the efficacy of the plan. In 

20 performing such assessment, the United States Attorney 

21 shall consult with the advisory group appointed in accord22 ance with subsection (a)(2). Each assessment shall be sub23 mitted to the Executive Office for United States Attorneys 

24 for review in accordance with subsection (d). 

25 (d) INFORMATION ON THE PILOT PROGRAM.— 


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1 (1) REPORT AND MODEL PLAN.—Not later than 

2 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

3 the Attorney General shall— 

4 (A) prepare a comprehensive report on all 

5 plans received pursuant to this section; 

6 (B) based on all the plans received pursu7 ant to this section the Attorney General shall 

8 also develop one or more model plans; and 

9 (C) transmit copies of the report and 

10 model plan or plans to the Committees on the 

11 Judiciary of the Senate and the House of Rep12 resentatives. 

13 (2) CONTINUED OVERSIGHT.—The Attorney 

14 General shall, on a continuing basis— 

15 (A) study ways to reduce unwarranted ra16 cial and ethnic disparate impact in the Federal 

17 criminal system; and 

18 (B) make recommendations to all United 

19 States Attorneys on ways to improve the sys20 tem. 

21 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

22 There are authorized to be appropriated $3,000,000 

23 for use, at the discretion of the Attorney General, by the 


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1 United States Attorneys’ advisory groups in the develop2 ment and implementation of plans under this Act. 

Æ 


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