The Illinois Legislative Black Caucus has introduced a sweeping criminal justice omnibus bill that aims to heavily alter the state of policing in Illinois, but Vermilion County State’s Attorney Jacqueline Lacy says the bill poses a serious threat to public safety and crime victims.
House Bill 163 contains a number of provisions that are designed to reform police department policies. They are in response to the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis in May.
As part of the bill, police officers would only be able to use force against a fleeing suspect if that person has tried to harm someone. Chokeholds would also be banned under the new bill.
Law enforcement officers would also be liable to lawsuits as the concept of “qualified immunity” would be eliminated. Cash bail would also be eliminated and replaced with pretrial release conditions.
Lacy says the bill is poorly drafted and is mostly reactionary and inconsistent with longstanding legal policies in the state. She says the bill would likely mean that crime victims would be victimized again with bail being eliminated. She also says it would allow prisoners to delete information off their cell phones before they are taken by jail staff, and would eliminate the state’s felony murder rule.
Lacy says the bill is simply an attempt to dismantle law enforcement throughout the state, which she says would affect the safety of everyone in the community.
