Illinois Policy Action ushers in banner week for criminal-justice reform
Promoting reform from the liberty perspective brought two bills to the governor’s desk.
The Illinois General Assembly passed multiple bills this week aimed at addressing issues of criminal justice, which will now go to the desk of Gov. Bruce Rauner. These bills address badly needed reforms on the front and back end of the state’s criminal-justice system. While House Bill 218 addresses the sentencing system for low-level cannabis possession, House Bill 494 removes automatic lifetime barriers to employment in schools and helps give former offenders the opportunity to prove themselves rehabilitated and able to work.
These bills were bipartisan efforts in both chambers, and the liberty perspective on this legislation came through in the debates on the Illinois Senate floor this week. Republican leaders such as state Sens. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, and Karen McConnaughay, R-West Dundee, advocated for HB 494, emphasizing the essential opportunity for a second chance for those who have rehabilitated themselves. In his support of HB 218, state Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, spoke to Illinoisans’ desire for sensible, liberty-enhancing laws as well as the positive financial implications of reforming unreasonable sentencing laws.
Illinois Policy Action, or IPA, worked with bipartisan coalition partners to help these bills pass the General Assembly. IPA will continue to bring the liberty perspective to the criminal-justice reform conversation as it recommends these bills to the governor and forms future legislative agendas.
The passage of these bills coincided with another bipartisan event, Realizing reform: Fixing Illinois’ criminal-justice system, co-hosted on May 20 by the Illinois Policy Institute and featuring speakers from across the policy spectrum including the Charles Koch Institute, Justice Fellowship, the Illinois Policy Institute, Families Against Mandatory Minimums and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.
During the event, speakers discussed the need for criminal-justice reform in Illinois and throughout the nation. The panel of experts discussed approaches to reform, all agreeing on the need for a comprehensive approach that includes both front-end reforms, such as common-sense changes to sentencing policy, and back-end reforms that focus on the rehabilitation and reintegration of former offenders into productive society.
Pending the governor’s signature, Illinois’ criminal-justice system will be improved on both counts.