{"id":3990,"date":"2022-02-03T17:17:11","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T17:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chicagocouncil.org\/staging\/1601\/?p=3990"},"modified":"2022-02-03T19:08:09","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T19:08:09","slug":"principles-for-earned-release-sentencing-reform-in-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chicagocouncil.org\/staging\/1601\/principles-for-earned-release-sentencing-reform-in-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"Principles for Earned Release Sentencing Reform In Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Collaboration for Justice of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, along with a coalition of supporting organizations, have released an <\/strong>open letter<\/strong><\/a> to the Illinois Resentencing Task Force urging them to be guided by a set of shared principles for earned release sentencing reform in Illinois.<\/strong> The Illinois Resentencing Task Force<\/a> was established by P.L. 102-0099 to \u201cstudy innovative ways to reduce the prison population in Illinois,\u201d according to its statutory mandate. The Task Force will meet at least four times and release its recommendations by July 1, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council, nearly 12% of people incarcerated in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) \u2013 3,235 individuals \u2013 have already served 20 years or more of their sentences; another 19% of IDOC\u2019s population \u2013 5,177 people \u2013 are projected to serve over 20 years but have not yet done so.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of people having served over 20 years doubled between 2010 and 2020, largely due to statutory mandatory minimum sentences and truth-in-sentencing laws<\/a> that limit the ability of people convicted of many offenses to earn time off of their sentences. Illinois imprisons Black people at almost eight times the rate<\/a> that it imprisons white people; of those who already have served 20 years or more, two-thirds are Black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, the Collaboration for Justice convened a coalition to examine ways to reduce Illinois\u2019 population of individuals serving 20+ year sentences in Illinois. <\/strong>The group of organizations, including incarcerated and formerly-incarcerated people, developed the Guiding Principles of Earned Release Sentencing Reform in Illinois<\/em>. These principles include, among other things, that the factors in determining eligibility for release should focus on a person\u2019s actions since sentencing, not the nature of their conviction, that multiple avenues for release should be available, and that these processes should be as simple and accessible as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the fall of 2021, the coalition turned its attention to the Illinois Resentencing Task Force. The animating belief behind the coalition\u2019s work is that too many people are serving lengthy sentences in IDOC, even after they have been rehabilitated, aged out of likely rearrest, or have been diagnosed with terminal medical conditions. Many others are serving decades behind bars for crimes that would not be prosecuted today\u2014or likely would not have been sentenced so harshly. The taxpayers of Illinois, and society at large, are not well-served by keeping such individuals behind bars. There must be mechanisms for people in these situations to earn their freedom.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We urge the Resentencing Task Force to recommend the establishment and broadening of multiple pathways for those serving long sentences in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) to earn release from prison. <\/strong>Those pathways may include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n