II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3245 

To increase public confidence in the justice system and address any 

unwarranted racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal process. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 10 (legislative day, JULY 9), 2008 

Mr. BIDEN (for himself, Mr. SPECTER, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. KERRY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 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 2008’’. 

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 factors such 

8 as— 

9 (A) varying levels of criminal activity 

10 among racial and ethnic groups and legitimate 

11 law enforcement response to that criminal activ12 ity; and 

13 (B) racial discrimination, ethnic and cul14 tural insensitivity, or unconscious bias; 

15 (4) the Nation would benefit from an under16 standing of all factors causing a disparate impact on 

17 the criminal justice system; and 

18 (5) programs that promote fairness will in19 crease public confidence in the criminal justice sys20 tem, increase public safety, and further the pursuit 

21 of justice. 

22 SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM. 

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

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

25 establish a pilot program in 10 United States districts in 


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

2 in the Federal criminal justice system, and to determine 

3 whether legislation is required. 

4 (b) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

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

7 10 United States Attorneys who shall each imple8 ment a plan in accordance with section 4, beginning 

9 not later than 1 month after those United States At10 torneys are designated by the Attorney General. 

11 (2) PURPOSE.—The purposes of the plans re12 quired by this section are— 

13 (A) to gather racial and ethnic data on in14 vestigations and prosecutions in the United 

15 States districts and the causes of disparities, if 

16 any; 

17 (B) to determine the extent to which the 

18 communities’ perception of bias has affected 

19 confidence in the Federal criminal justice sys20 tem; 

21 (C) to analyze whether measures may be 

22 taken to reduce unwarranted disparities, if any, 

23 and increase confidence in the criminal justice 

24 system; and 


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1 (D) to make recommendations, to the ex2 tent possible, to ensure that law enforcement 

3 priorities and initiatives, charging and plea bar4 gaining decisions, sentencing recommendations, 

5 and other steps within the criminal process are 

6 not influenced by racial and ethnic stereotyping 

7 or bias, and do not produce unwarranted dis8 parities from otherwise neutral laws or policies. 

9 (3) CRITERIA FOR SELECTION.— 

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

11 referred to in subsection (a) shall include dis12 tricts of varying compositions with respect to 

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

14 composition. 

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

16 the United States Attorneys designated by the 

17 Attorney General shall be in Federal districts 

18 encompassing metropolitan areas. 

19 SEC. 4. PLAN AND REPORT. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

21 (1) UNITED STATES ATTORNEY.—Each United 

22 States Attorney shall, in consultation with an advi23 sory group appointed in accordance with paragraph 

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

25 with subsections (b) and (c). 


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1 (2) ADVISORY GROUP.— 

2 (A) APPOINTMENT.—Not later than 90 

3 days after designation by the Attorney General, 

4 the United States Attorney in each of the 10 

5 pilot districts selected pursuant to section 3 

6 shall appoint an advisory group, after consulta7 tion with the chief judge of the district and 

8 criminal justice professionals within the district. 

9 (B) MEMBERSHIP.—The advisory group of 

10 a United States Attorney shall include— 

11 (i) 1 or more senior social scientists 

12 with expertise in research methods or sta13 tistics; and 

14 (ii) individuals and entities who play 

15 important roles in the criminal justice 

16 process and have broad-based community 

17 representation such as— 

18 (I) Federal and State prosecu19 tors; 

20 (II) Federal and State defenders, 

21 if applicable in the district, and pri22 vate defense counsel; 

23 (III) Federal and State judges; 


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1 (IV) Federal and State law en2 forcement officials and union rep3 resentatives; 

4 (V) parole and probation officers; 

5 (VI) correctional officers; 

6 (VII) victim’s rights representa7 tives; 

8 (VIII) civil rights organizations; 

9 (IX) business and professional 

10 representatives; and 

11 (X) faith-based organizations 

12 who do criminal justice work. 

13 (C) TERM LIMIT.—Subject to subpara14 graph (D), a member of the advisory group 

15 shall not serve longer than 5 years. 

16 (D) PERMANENT MEMBERS.—Notwith17 standing subparagraph (C), the following shall 

18 be permanent members of the advisory group 

19 for that district: 

20 (i) The chief judge for the judicial dis21 trict. 

22 (ii) The Federal defender for the judi23 cial district. 

24 (iii) The United States Attorney for 

25 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) substantial assistance motions, 

6 whether at sentencing or post-conviction, 

7 by race and ethnicity; 

8 (iv) charging policies, including deci9 sions as to who should be charged in Fed10 eral rather than State court when either 

11 forum is available, and whether these poli12 cies tend to result in racial or ethnic dis13 parities among defendants charged in Fed14 eral court, including whether relative dis15 parities exist between State and Federal 

16 defendants charged with similar offenses; 

17 (v) the racial and ethnic composition 

18 of the Federal prosecutors in the district; 

19 and 

20 (vi) the extent to which training in 

21 the exercise of discretion, including cul22 tural competency, is provided prosecutors; 

23 (E) consult with an educational or inde24 pendent research group, if necessary, to conduct 

25 work under this subsection; and 


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1 (F) submit to the United States Attorney 

2 by the end of the second year after their initial 

3 appointment a report and proposed plan, which 

4 shall be made available to the public and which 

5 shall include— 

6 (i) factual findings and conclusions on 

7 racial and ethnic disparities, if any, and 

8 the State of public confidence in the crimi9 nal process; 

10 (ii) recommended measures, rules, and 

11 programs for reducing unjustified dispari12 ties, if any, and increasing public con13 fidence; and 

14 (iii) an explanation of the manner in 

15 which the recommended plan complies with 

16 this paragraph. 

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

18 days after receiving and considering the advisory 

19 group’s report and proposed plan under paragraph 

20 (1), the United States Attorney appointed under sec21 tion 3 shall adopt and implement a plan. 

22 (3) COPY OF REPORT.—The United States At23 torney shall transmit a copy of the plan and report 

24 adopted and implemented, in accordance with this 

25 subsection, together with the report and plan recVerDate Aug 31 2005 07:31 Jul 11, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3245.IS S3245

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1 ommended by the advisory group, to the Attorney 

2 General. The United States Attorney shall include 

3 with the plan an explanation of any recommendation 

4 of the advisory group that is not included in the 

5 plan. 

6 (4) CONGRESS.—The Attorney General shall 

7 transmit to the United States Attorney’s in every 

8 Federal district and to the Committees on the Judi9 ciary of the Senate and the House of Representa10 tives copies of any plan and accompanying report 

11 submitted by a pilot district. 

12 (c) PERIODIC UNITED STATES ATTORNEY ASSESS13 MENT.—After adopting and implementing a plan under 

14 subsection (b), each United States Attorney in a pilot dis15 trict shall annually evaluate the efficacy of the plan. In 

16 performing such assessment, the United States Attorney 

17 shall consult with the advisory group appointed in accord18 ance with subsection (a)(2). Each assessment shall be sub19 mitted to the Executive Office for United States Attorneys 

20 for review in accordance with subsection (d). 

21 (d) INFORMATION ON THE PILOT PROGRAM.— 

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

23 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

24 the Attorney General shall— 


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1 (A) prepare a comprehensive report on all 

2 plans received pursuant to this section; 

3 (B) based on all the plans received pursu4 ant to this section the Attorney General shall 

5 also develop one or more model plans; and 

6 (C) transmit copies of the report and 

7 model plan or plans to the Committees on the 

8 Judiciary of the Senate and the House of Rep9 resentatives. 

10 (2) CONTINUED OVERSIGHT.—The Attorney 

11 General shall, on a continuing basis— 

12 (A) study ways to reduce unwarranted ra13 cial and ethnic disparate impact in the Federal 

14 criminal system; and 

15 (B) make recommendations to all United 

16 States Attorneys on ways to improve the sys17 tem. 

18 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

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

21 United States Attorneys’ advisory groups in the develop22 ment and implementation of plans under this Act. 

Æ 


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