WBGZ Radio 2/18/2021 |
By Kevin Bessler - Illinois Radio Network
Illinois lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday on the effect justice reforms have on public safety.
The Senate Joint Public Safety and Criminal Law Committee’s hearing dealt with sentencing laws, reducing the Illinois prison population, and the spike in carjackings in Chicago, Peoria and other downstate communities.
Kathy Saltmarsh, executive director of the Sentencing Policy Advisory Council, or SPAC, said carjackings are a result of the pandemic. She said tough sentencing for those responsible is the wrong approach.
“Because you have implemented a policy that generates more recidivism,” Saltmarsh said. “It is entirely probable that once COVID subsides and things get back to normal, that carjackings will go down.”
(The Center Square) – Illinois lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday on the effect justice reforms have on public safety.
The Senate Joint Public Safety and Criminal Law Committee’s hearing dealt with sentencing laws, reducing the Illinois prison population, and the spike in carjackings in Chicago, Peoria and other downstate communities.
Kathy Saltmarsh, executive director of the Sentencing Policy Advisory Council, or SPAC, said carjackings are a result of the pandemic. She said tough sentencing for those responsible is the wrong approach.
“Because you have implemented a policy that generates more recidivism,” Saltmarsh said. “It is entirely probable that once COVID subsides and things get back to normal, that carjackings will go down.”
Decades of tough-on-crime policies have begun to give way in recent years to conversations about alternatives to incarceration.
State lawmakers on Tuesday heard from advocates who say interventions that get at the roots of crime, like mental health and poverty, can be more effective at reducing crime.
Greg Jackson of the Community Justice Action Fund, which provides support to communities of color affected by gun violence, told members of the Senate’s Public Safety Committee the threat of incarceration does not deter many of the people he works with, but that a lack of opportunities for personal growth is what leads to recidivism.
After a tumultuous 2020 that forced issues of race, criminal justice and policing to the forefront, justice reforms in Illinois will no doubt be at the center of discussion in
Normal, IL, USA / www.cities929.com
Jan 3, 2021 1:29 PM
(The Center Square) – After a tumultuous 2020 that forced issues of race, criminal justice and policing to the forefront, justice reforms in Illinois will no doubt be at the center of discussion in 2021.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has proposed seven principles that he said will reform and modernize Illinois’ criminal justice system. The proposals include ending cash bail, reducing prison sentences, and increasing police accountability. Khadine Bennett, with the ACLU, applauded the proposals. It is really important that policing reform and criminal justice reform happen together because if you think about it, the prison pipeline system starts when people interact with law enforcement,” Bennett said.