Two local elected officials are criticizing House Bill 3653, the new criminal justice reform bill that is currently sitting on Governor J.B. Pritzker’s desk and awaiting his signature.
During a news conference on Thursday, State Representative Mike Marron and Vermilion County State’s Attorney Jacqueline Lacy spoke against the potential new law, which has been denounced by many law enforcement agencies across the state. Lacy spoke out about the provision that would eliminate cash bail in the state by 2023, saying it would harm domestic abuse victims since offenders would be more likely to be released from jail.
“They will be re-victimized over and over and over again, and the cycle of violence that they were so strongly able to finally fight against will continue to go on in their homes,” she said.
Marron says that the General Assembly should have taken time to pass the bill and not push it through in the lame-duck session in just a matter of days.
“We all should have had input on this,” he explained. “It shouldn’t have been in a lame-duck session. It shouldn’t have been done in the middle of a pandemic, when the General Assembly hadn’t even met for seven and a half months, and then all of a sudden we rush it through in the last minute? There’s something not right about that.”
But State Senator Scott Bennett, who voted for the bill, says the Black Caucus was under pressure from their constituents and other colleagues to pass some sort of legislation. He said during an interview on WDAN Tuesday morning that the cash bail provision was pushed back until 2023 due to pushback from law enforcement, and he says some of the bill’s sponsors want to re-negotiate portions of it before it takes effect.
“I’m kind of hoping we can hit the reset button on this,” Bennett said. “We have a negotiating position now because the bill is not looked at favorably by a lot of law enforcement groups, so let’s come and tweak the things that need to be tweaked.”
House Bill 3653 also contains provisions to reform the use of force by police officers. However, some other controversial parts of the original bill, such as union contract clauses regarding discipline, were removed following opposition from many people around the state.
