Senators urged to ‘think boldly’

In Springfield, hearing looks at sentencing laws

SPRINGFIELD — The second state Senate committee hearing spurred by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ recently unveiled legislative agenda focused on criminal justice reforms Tuesday.

The joint hearing of the Senate Criminal Law and Public Safety committees addressed truthin-sentencing laws that mandate violent offenders serve more of their sentence; mandatory minimums that restrict judicial discretion and require longer sentences; three-strike addons to sentences that give repeat offenders more jail time for minor crimes; and resentencing convicted people after one of their infractions is decriminalized.

The meeting was just for informational purposes and no legislative remedies were proposed or voted upon. Co-chair of the hearing, state Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, called the disparities in the criminal justice system a crisis and invited his fellow lawmakers to “think boldly” when considering solutions.

Witnesses from the Illinois Sentencing PolicyAdvisory Council, the Illinois Public Defender Association, the John Howard Association, and retired Judge Donald Bernardi advocated moving away from measures such as mandatory minimums. Instead, they favor prison alternatives or sentences that involve reduced prison time in return for participation in rehabilitative or counsel-related programs.

Witnesses from the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association agreed with making drug sentencing more equitable. They also advocated for more government- provided resources to underserved communities to reduce crime.

The group, however, pushed back on calls to scrap mandatory minimums and truth-in-sentencing laws.