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HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Governor Rauner has called for a bold, pragmatic
3new approach to criminal justice, correctly noting that our
4prison system is significantly overcrowded and the corrections
5budget is far too large; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Governor Rauner has created the Illinois State
7Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform to
8deliberate on the most fundamental questions of criminal
9justice policy, with a mandate to provide recommendations to
10the General Assembly by December of 2015; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Governor Rauner's Executive Order establishing
12the Commission reaffirmed that, under Article I, Section 11 of
13the Illinois Constitution, sentencing statutes must embrace
14the twin goals of prescribing penalties commensurate with the
15seriousness of the offense and restoring offenders to useful
16citizenship; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The Commission's task is to reduce the State's
18prison population by 25% over the next 10 years, from the
19current 49,000 prisoners to a more manageable 35,000 prisoners;
20and
 
21    WHEREAS, The growth of the prison population to such

 

 

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1unsustainable figures stems from several factors, including 2
2policy decisions by previous General Assemblies: the abolition
3of parole in 1979 and the elimination in 1998 of the ability to
4earn good conduct credit in prison for a large number of
5offenses, which triggered far lengthier sentences for inmates
6than had previously been the case; and
 
7    WHEREAS, The lack of any sentence review by a parole board
8or a judge for inmates sentenced after 1979 has left thousands
9of prisoners who no longer pose any threat to public safety and
10are truly remorseful for their crimes stuck in prison at
11tremendous taxpayer cost; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The elimination of the ability to earn good
13conduct in prison for a large number of offenses effectively
14doubled the sentences for those offenses, creating a major cost
15driver for taxpayers; and
 
16    WHEREAS, In order to bring our prison capacity and the
17Illinois Department of Corrections budget under control, we as
18a State must find a safe, reasonable, and intelligent method to
19release some prisoners earlier than their original sentence
20length that considers their changed circumstances and remorse,
21as well as the impact on victims and communities, while
22allowing for healing and reconciliation whenever possible; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Illinois' large prison population forces
2difficult budgetary decisions, including the reduction of
3programs that facilitate rehabilitation; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Rehabilitation is possible for offenders,
5particularly youthful offenders and offenders who receive
6educational programming; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Without some sort of sentence review process
8implemented, Illinois will not be able to meet the Governor's
9visionary and pragmatic goal of reducing our prison population
10by 25% over the next 10 years; therefore, be it
 
11    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
12NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
13congratulate Governor Rauner on his leadership and vision in
14criminal justice reform; and be it further
 
15    RESOLVED, That we call upon the members of the Illinois
16State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform to
17deliberate and develop a 21st century method of implementing a
18sentencing review regime that alleviates taxpayers of the
19burden of housing and feeding inmates that no longer pose any
20threat to public safety and are truly remorseful for their
21crimes; and be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
2delivered to the Governor and the members of the Illinois State
3Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform.