Town Hall Meeting on Criminal Justice Reform a Success

Special to juliehamos.org
August 23, 2002

Over 200 people attended a town hall meeting called Monday by Rep. Julie Hamos and Rep. Jeff Schoenberg on criminal justice reform in Illinois. The meeting featured opposing points of view from Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine and Scott Turow, a former member of the Governor's Commission on the Death Penalty.

The audience listened intently for nearly two hours as Mr. Devine and Mr. Turow discussed the administration of the criminal justice system in Illinois and debated the changes proposed by the Governor's Commission, including modification of police lineup procedure, videotaping confessions and interrogations, and establishing a statewide review panel for all capital cases. After their presentations, the panel took questions from the audience.

I am very pleased with the turnout for the event," said Hamos. "This proves that people care greatly about the issue of criminal justice reform. Now it's up to the General Assembly to seriously consider the Commission's recommendations and make our system more equitable."

Earlier this year, the Governor's Commission released its report after two years of studying administration of the death penalty in Illinois, and recommended 85 reforms to improve the criminal justice system. The Governor created the Commission after issuing a moratorium on executions in the State following the release of 13 innocent people from death row.

?While it is critical that we bring fundamental reform to the State's criminal justice system, we must also ensure sufficient funding for the courts so that these reforms truly take hold,? said Schoenberg, who is Chair of the House Appropriations' General Services Committee.

The Commission's full report can be found at www.state.il.us/gov. A tape of the event will be shown on Evanston cable later this month.