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92_HB0222gms
STATE OF ILLINOIS
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
SPRINGFIELD, 62706
GEORGE H. RYAN
GOVERNOR
August 10, 2001
To the Honorable Members of the
Illinois House of Representatives
92nd General Assembly
Pursuant to Article IV, Section 9 (b) of the Illinois
Constitution of 1970, I hereby veto House Bull 222 entitled
"AN ACT concerning criminal law.
House Bill 222 amends the Statewide Grand Jury Act.
Provides that a statewide grand jury may be convened to
investigate and return indictments for any sex offense listed
in the Criminal Code of 1961 (rather than certain sex
offenses involving children), which are facilitated by the
use of a computer.
The issue of allowing a statewide grand jury, as a
substitute for a county grand jury or the filing of a
criminal charge by a State's Attorney has always been
contentious, because of the fact that it intrudes into the
charging of criminal offenses previously reserved exclusively
for a county State's Attorney. For many years, statewide
grand jury legislation stalled in the General Assembly for
this very reason. When it ws finally enacted, the statewide
grand jury was deliberately limited to criminal street-gang
and gun crimes, which involve more than one county of the
State. The expansive nature of the criminal conspiracy behind
the trafficking in guns and drugs was the main reason cited
for authorizing the use of a statewide grand jury. It is up
to the Attorney General to petition for the impaneling of a
statewide grand jury.
Later, the statewide grand jury law was expanded to
include indecent solicitation of a child, sexual exploitation
of a child, soliciting for a juvenile prostitute, keeping a
place of juvenile prostitution, juvenile pimping and child
pornography, which are facilitated by the use of a computer.
The justification for adding these offenses was the
involvement or potential involvement of a vulnerble class of
victim that being children.
House Bill 222 is not an initiative of the Attorney
General. It seeks to add thirty (30) additional sex offenses
to the statewide grand jury law, regardless of the type of
victim. These include many misdemeanor level offenses. There
are not any additional funds being provided to the Attorney
General for the additional personnel to pursue indictment and
prosecution of these offenses. I do not find that there is
sufficient justification for these additions to the
jurisdiction of a statewide grand jury. I believe the State
of Illinois is better served by keeping the limited statewide
grand jury resources focused on drug conspiracies,
street-gang conspiracies, trafficking in computer child
pornography and computer solicitation of children for sexual
offenses.
Moreover, there is not any indication that State's
Attorneys supported this legislation or perceived the need
for the impaneling of statewide grand juries to otherwise
assist in their investigation and prosecution of these
additional offenses. Without House Bill 222, a State's
Attorney is fully capable of convening a grand jury to
investigate and consider whether or not criminal indictments
should be returned for these other sex offenses. A State's
Attorney can also file a criminal charge, without a grand
jury, for any of these offenses.
For these reasons, I hereby veto and return House Bill
222.
Sincerely,
s/GEORGE H. RYAN
Governor