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

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

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

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