HB4136 Summary: Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act

• Allows immediate family members of murder victims to request law enforcement agencies review cold case murder files (first or second degree murders committed more than 3 years prior with exhausted investigative leads and no identified perpetrator).

• Requires case file review to be completed within 6 months and conducted by personnel who did not investigate the original case, with review examining missed investigative steps, witness re-interviews, forensic testing, and case modernization.

• Mandates full reinvestigation if case file review concludes that probative investigative leads would result, with the reinvestigation also conducted by new personnel and limited to one reinvestigation per victim at a time.

• Establishes that agencies must develop written applications for case review requests, provide notice of rights to designated persons, consult with families during review and reinvestigation, and designate administrative authorities to investigate complaints about violations.

• Requires the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority to collect annual data from agencies on cold case applications, extensions, reinvestigations initiated, and outcomes (suspects identified, arrested, charged, convicted), beginning 3 years after the act's effective date.