Pubdate: Tue, 05 May 2015
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/5QwXAJWY
Website: http://www.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author: Kathleen Kane-Willis
Note: Kathleen Kane-Willis is director of the Illinois Consortium on 
Drug Policy at Roosevelt University.

PILOT PROGRAM NEEDS INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT

While this proposed policy would save taxpayers over $ 58 million 
over three years, it may not reduce time waiting in jail.

The Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy at Roosevelt University 
supports the intent of House Bill 356 because it is vitally important 
to reduce the number of days that individuals wait for a preliminary 
hearing. Awaiting results from the Illinois State Police Crime lab 
creates long delays for defendants and causes overcrowding in Cook County Jail.

But academic literature raises concerns regarding police conducting 
field testing for suspect narcotics.

Police officers must be trained to correctly use and interpret the 
result of the field tests. Research indicates that false positives in 
officer-conducted field tests that don't use spectrometry tend to be 
high. Field testing of narcotics would not be verified by an 
independent authority like the Illinois State Police crime lab as 
they are now. Considering the complexity of training and the lack of 
independent verification, field testing might cause testing errors 
and would leave the entire process up to the police officer, who may 
or may not be unbiased in the outcome of the field test.

Our study of preliminary hearings for drug cases found that a large 
number of cases were dismissed.

These dismissed cases shared one characteristic: The amount of drugs 
was very small, under one gram. A typical "dime bag" of cocaine or 
heroin weighs around one-tenth of a gram. Drug packaging weighs at 
least one gram. Police may weigh the drugs with the packaging under 
the pilot program, which could artificially increase the total weight 
of the "drugs," perhaps making judges less likely to dismiss these 
low-level cases.

That could mean more people in the Cook County Jail would end up in 
Illinois' prisons if the number of dismissed cases decreases.

That would neither be good for Illinois' taxpayers nor for people who 
suffer from substance use disorder.

The creation of a personal-use misdemeanor for possession of less 
than one gram of drugs for cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine would 
align Illinois' policy with federal policy and with states like 
California, New York, and Ohio. While this proposed policy would save 
taxpayers over $ 58 million over three years, it may not reduce time 
waiting in jail. To ensure a successful pilot program, the pilot 
should be subject to independent review and assessment to ensure that 
the intent of the legislation successfully reduces wait times for 
preliminary hearings while ensuring that the proportion of dismissed 
cases remains the same between the piloted areas and the rest of the city.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom