Illinois Senate Republicans have clamored for four years for changes to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, which under J.B. Pritzker has paroled far more violent criminals than in the past.
Tiwanna Perkins, aunt of slain 11-year-old Jayden Perkins, cries at a memorial for Perkins on March 15, 2024, in Chicago. One day after being released from prison, Crosetti Brand barged into the apartment of a pregnant woman, stabbing her while she was on the phone with her mother, prosecutors alleged. When her son, Jayden Perkins, tried to help, Brand stabbed him, killing the boy in front of his younger brother in their Edgewater home, prosecutors said.
But the issue of the board and how it’s operated under Pritzker is far from settled. Senate Republicans who sounded the alarm for years on questionable parole decisions now are proposing wide-ranging legislation to reform the board and to increase penalties for violations of orders of protection in domestic situations. Among other things, the bill would require more stringent qualifications for board members, who are paid nearly $100,000 a year.
Those parolees include some notorious examples such as Chester Weger — the so-called Starved Rock Killer, convicted of the 1960 murder of three women out for a hike — who was released in 2020 at age 83. Another was the 2021 release of Johnny Veal, who along with a second man was convicted of killing two Chicago police officers in 1970.
Like it or not, Pritzker bears part of the responsibility for the nightmare Jayden Perkins’ family has endured. Many of his Prisoner Review Board appointees have reflected a philosophy emphasizing criminal rehabilitation over victims’ concerns, and the board’s decisions have followed suit.We hope it goes without saying that Democrats must engage honestly with Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, says he’ll review the GOP proposal.
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