Summer is here, but there is a lot to report on justice reform in Illinois.
The sections of the website on Getting Involved and on Upcoming Programs and Events provide links to details of a number of significant in-person and on-line events coming up over the next couple of months, including on-line sessions focused on improving the experience of those who have been discharged from prison in Illinois and fundraising events in the fall for Cabrini Green Legal Aid, the Illinois Prison Project, and The John Howard Association.
The section of the website on Books, Reports and Articles contains links to a number of important new reports and articles on topics including Principles for Parole Reform and retention of a new health care provider for the Illinois Department of Corrections.
The spring session of the Illinois General Assembly saw the passage of important legislation supporting justice reform, including:
- Improving Public Defense – HB3363: the Funded Advocacy and Independent Representation Act (the FAIR Act), under which Illinois will establish an Office of the State Public Defender and will create a statewide system to ensure consistent, well-funded, and independent public defense services in Illinois.
See: https://mailchi.mp/endmoneybond/wedidit?e=26813fbadd
- Pretrial Success Act grant program – continued funding of the programs designed to insure success of the Pretrial Fairness Act reforms.
See: https://www.chicagoappleseed.org/2025/06/10/victory-pretrial-success-grant-program-preserved-funding-kept-for-critical-pretrial-services/
- Youthful Parole – HB 2546, an important revision to the Youthful Parole Act that strengthens the existing Act by ensuring that eligible people can access a parole hearing on the correct timeline and not have to remain incarcerated longer while they wait for their hearing. Fact sheet here: HB 2546.
- Fines & Fees –SB108, making the Cook County Traffic Fee Waiver Program permanent, a significant step toward reducing court debt for Illinois families
- Policing – in Schools legislation requiring all public schools and districts in Illinois to stop issuing fines for disciplinary violations and to report annually to the state and make public how often they involve police in student matters, with data disaggregated by race, gender, and disability.
See: https://davisvanguard.org/2025/06/illinois-bans-school-fines/
- Civil Asset Forfeiture – HB 1628, to improve data collection and transparency in Civil Asset Forfeiture – toward reforming the system in Illinois that allows the state to permanently seize someone’s property.
See: https://www.chicagoappleseed.org/2025/05/27/hb1628-a-step-toward-enhancing-data-/collection-and-transparency-in-reporting-civil-asset-forfeiture/
- Contraband in Prisons – SB2201, mandating the collection and public reporting of prison contraband data, as in where it is found, and who in the facility (person in custody, staff, vendor, etc.) is in possession of or attempting to procure the contraband – part of the effort to improve the safety of everyone inside IDOC but not be unnecessarily punitive to people in custody.
- Crime Data – HB1710: Homicide Data Transparency Act, requiring law enforcement agencies across Illinois to routinely publish detailed data on nonfatal shootings, homicides, and investigations.
The Sections of the website on Getting Involved and Developments in Illinois and Federal Justice, also report several developments in Cook County, including he launch of Cook County Criminal Justice Data Dashboard at https://cook-dashboard.loyolaccj.org/ .
Bills that will continue to be considered for passage in the 2025 fall session of the Illinois General Assembly include:
- Home For Good Legislation – SB2403 and HB3162, to provide for $103 million of investment that would expand housing access and housing support for people with arrest and conviction records.
- Detention of juveniles – to obtain House approval of SB1784, which would raise the minimum age of detention of juveniles from 10 to 13, and SB2156, which would create a Juvenile Detention Utilization Task Force to shift fiscal incentives away from detention to community alternatives. Go to this link for a: Fact sheet on SB 1784
- Automating Expungement and Sealing of Criminal Records in Illinois – to eliminate the (often prohibitively complicated) extra procedures that are now required for the individual to obtain the expungement and sealing to which he or she is entitled is entitled under the law.
- Ending Lifelong Financial Punishment by Abolishing All Fees for All Public Conviction Registries –SB2197 / HB3469, to end lifelong registration fees for those convicted of crime. See this SB2197 / HB3469 fact sheet with information about the importance of this legislation.
- Post Conviction – Review needing approval in the House, to amend to create fairness and consistency by allowing children and young people sentenced before the monumental U.S. Supreme Court decision, Miller v. Alabama, the same opportunity for a constitutional hearing as people sentenced after Miller. Fact sheet here: SB 248
Please check out the updated attachments for links to new reports and articles and a second season of the Pulitzer Prize Winning podcast Suave: https://www.futuromediagroup.org/suave-returns/
Be prepared to support these bills when the time comes.