Civil Rights and Public Integrity Act
Wherein the state and its agencies are afforded great power, there must come great responsibility. To prevent agency level patterns of practices of corruption, malfeasance, and violations of the rights of the people, this act shall empower the Department of Justice to deter such affronts to the Lockean and Jeffersonian values of our republic.Chief Sponsor(s): President Pro Tempore sharkfish82, Chief Court Justice DannyboyJurist, and Solicitor General dadudeds.
Co-Sponsor(s): Representative StealthSniper292, Citizen legaalsp
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Firestone in Congress assembled,
§1. Title
(a) This act shall be known, and may be cited as, the “Civil Rights and Public Integrity Act”
§2. Enactment
(a) This Bill shall go into effect as an Act of Congress upon completing the processes constitutionally required.
§3. Severability
(a) Should any part of this Act be struck down and/or declared unenforceable, then that part shall be severed with the rest remaining in full force and effect unless all is struck down and/or declared unenforceable.
§4. Enforcement
(a) This Act shall be enforced by the Department of Justice and the courts.
§5. Definitions
(a) For the purpose of this act, references to the term “Justice Department” shall mean the Department of Justice.
(b) For the purposes of this act, “office of public trust” shall mean any office requiring an oath, or that would place a person in a position of governmental authority; this includes but is not limited to: any elected or appointed office under the judicial, executive, or legislative bodies of the state or local governments, any law enforcement employment, enlistment or commission in the National Guard, or employment by the Department of Justice or the similar component or whole authority present at the local level.
(c) “Patterns and/or practices of misconduct” shall be defined as (1) repeated and common instances of corruption or other public misconduct, excessive use of force, or civil violation or criminal deprivation of rights; or (2) a prevalent or pervasive culture or set of practices, policies, or directives, formal or informal, which promotes or causes acts of the character described in the previous paragraph.
§6. Repealments
(a) This Act makes no repealments.
§7. Criminal Code Amendments
(a) Chapter 4, §26 of the F.C.C. shall be created, and entitled “§26 - Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law”, and be classed as a class B felony and a courts only offense.
(b) Chapter 4, §26 of the F.C.C. shall state:
"(a) The act of Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law shall be a criminal offense in the State of Firestone.
(b) Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law shall be defined as “a person, acting under color of any law, statute, ordinance, or
regulation, willfully, knowingly, and unlawfully subjecting any other person to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the State of Firestone.”
(c) Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law shall be a class B felony, and shall carry a special sentencing guideline of no less than 1/3 of the maximum Constitutional incarceration time upon conviction. Furthermore, any person convicted of this offense shall be prohibited from holding any law enforcement or legal certification under any statute or regulation. Likewise, no person convicted of this offense shall be eligible to hold or maintain any office of public trust under the state or local governments unless such charge is removed from via judicial action or executive pardon.
(d) Chapter 4, §15 of the F.C.C. currently reads as follows:
"(a) The act of Misconduct shall be a criminal offense in the State of Firestone
(a1) Misconduct shall be defined as “Any government officer who intentionally incorrectly or unlawfully abuses their office in a manner that endangers the life or freedom (as guaranteed by statute or the Constitution/BOR) of another.
(b) For the purposes of this offense, a “government officer” shall be any individual who is elected, appointed, or otherwise employed by the government at any level."
(e) Chapter 4, §15 of the F.C.C. shall be amended to read as follows:
“(a) The act of misconduct shall be a criminal offense in the State of Firestone.
(b) Misconduct shall be the act of intentionally misusing or abusing a position of public trust in a manner that endangers the life, safety, or property of another.”
(f) Chapter 6, §24 of the F.C.C. shall be created and entitled “§24 - Impediment of Accountability and Civil Rights Enforcement”, and be classed as a C felony and a courts only offense.
(g) Chapter 6, §24 of the F.C.C. shall state:
"(a) Impediment of Accountability and Civil Rights Enforcement shall be a criminal offense in the State of Firestone.
(b) Impediment of Accountability and Civil Rights Enforcement shall be defined as "willfully obstructing, hindering, or interfering with the lawful authority of civil rights and accountability agents/officers of the Department of Justice; willfully obstructing, hindering, or interfering with the investigation of any crime or prohibited act under the Civil Rights and Public Integrity Act; willfully and knowingly attempting to or succeeding in the obfuscation or cover up of any criminal offense or prohibited act under the Civil Rights and Public Integrity Act; or willfully failing to comply with a compliance directive issued under the authority of a state court.
(c) A person charged with this offense cannot also be charged with Obstruction of Justice for the same criminal act."
§8. Empowering the Justice Department to Investigate Civil Rights Violations and Ensure Public Accountability
(a) The Department of Justice shall create a division responsible for civil rights and public integrity, acting at the behest of the Attorney General or their designee.
(a1) Persons employed under this office shall be required to have a POST certification or a bar certification.
(b) Agents of this division shall be responsible for investigating allegations or reports of Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law, corruption and all similar such offenses by public officials, and patterns and/or practices of misconduct by government entities.
(c) Agents of this division shall have the general investigatory powers afforded to law enforcement under state law and custom, including but not limited to the ability to acquire testimony under oath, request warrants to acquire evidence as needed, compel questioning as lawfully necessary, and secure evidence.
(d) The division and its agents shall have the authority to compel departmental records, policies, logs, archives, and similar such evidence absolutely for an investigation.
(d1) If any agency or employee asserts that any evidence requested by this division pursuant to an investigation herein described is classified, the Attorney General shall direct that such evidence be directed to their custody, where they may determine its validity under classification law. If the Attorney General determines it is not legally classified, they shall disclose it in full to the division. If it is legally classified, the Attorney General shall act in accordance with classification law. That notwithstanding, classified evidence may be used in an analysis of patterns and practices, and may be employed in a compliance directive as plausible and necessary.
§9. Consent Directives
(a) Upon an investigation by the Justice Department division described herein, the Justice Department shall be empowered to file an action (to be referred to as a Dandude’s filing) against an offender agency/entity in the District Court to correct patterns and practices of misconduct.
(b) The state courts shall create special procedures for adjudicating a Dandude’s filing. They, at minimum, must be adversarial in nature; allowing each side to present an argument and evidence, the division must prove a pattern or practice (or multiple thereof) of misconduct by a preponderance of the evidence, and if such patterns and practices are found, the court must hold a hearing to allow the division to present a plan of corrective action for a consent directive for which the offending agency shall have input.
(c) If a court finds a pattern or practice of misconduct exists, the court shall direct the division described herein to create a plan of action to correct such patterns and practices via policy changes, retraining, etc. This directive shall be directed to the department head of the agency/entity, who shall be responsible for enforcement. This directive shall have a timeline of implementation and evaluation, where the agency/entity shall have a set period of time to implement changes. The court may take necessary action to enforce compliance with this directive and its timeline should the agency/entity fail to comply; the Justice Department may also take criminal action as relevant pursuant to this act. If the agency/entity complies with the implementation stage, the division shall then conduct an evaluation of the agency with the corrective action in place. The division shall report on its findings to the court. If the patterns and practices have been fixed, the court shall find the corrective directive complete. If not, the parties shall once again come together to amend the directive to further correct the issue. The court shall be the final arbiter of success or failure of the directive.
(c1) The post-implementation evaluation shall encompass a secondary investigation into the type of misconduct found as a pattern or practice originally, and if such patterns and practices have ceased correlated with the changes in the directive, the implementation shall be a success. This secondary investigation may make the same inquiries as the original to determine efficacy and compliance.