With Republicans hammering the statewide spike in crime as their top election year issue, Democratic state legislators are being forced to defend last year’s sweeping criminal justice legislation.
SPRINGFIELD — With Republicans hammering the statewide spike in crime as their top election year issue, Democratic state legislators are being forced to defend last year’s sweeping criminal justice legislation and have opened the door to adding crime-fighting proposals to the agenda of this year’s condensed session in Springfield.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel"Chris" Welch walks up to speak to the media after being elected on Jan. 13, 2021, at the Bank of Springfield Center in Springfield. Despite that, in an interview with the Tribune last month, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs, offered a bleak prediction of the effect he expects the elimination of cash bail to have.“No one should feel comfortable that people who are in this system ... are going to return to the courthouse,” said Durkin, a former Cook County prosecutor. “These guys aren’t going to show up. I know it for a fact.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker is joined by lawmakers and community advocates including state Rep. Justin Slaughter, left, and state Sen. Elgie Sims Jr., right, as he signs HB 3653, a sweeping criminal justice and police reform bill, on Feb. 22, 2021, at Chicago State University. The carjacking issue hit especially close to home for state legislators after Democratic state Sen. Kimberly Lightford and her husband were carjacked in near west suburban Broadview on Dec. 21. The crime led to a shootout between the suspects and Lightford’s husband, who police said possesses a concealed carry license.
Welch also pointed a finger at the other party, turning to one of his familiar talking points of blaming former GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration for cutting anti-violence funding during his term from 2014 to 2018 amid a more than 700-day budget impasse.