Useless Law / Racist Law

Now what?

• Back in May 2017, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson traveled to Springfield and promised a House committee that passing a criminal penalty enhancement bill he favored would drastically reduce gun crimes in his city.

  The bill, SB 1722, was sponsored by then-Sen. Kwame Raoul, who would run successfully for attorney general the following year. It sought to establish higher minimum prison terms for people convicted of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon if they’d previously been convicted of various crimes. The bill would also increase penalties for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.

  Johnson was asked by committee member then-Rep. Christian Mitchell, D-Chicago, to estimate how many shootings, whether fatal or not, the legislature might prevent by passing the bill.

  “I think over time, we will probably, we will cut it, cut it down in half, to half,” Johnson replied.

No word if Johnson was drunk for this statement or having his johnson serviced by one or more of his concubines, but suffice it to say his numbers sucked. (heh heh.....sucked)

• Mitchell pressed further: “Okay. So in less than a year. But certainly, it’s safe to say in three years, if we pass this bill, we should see about a half reduction in the shootings and crime in Chicago?”

  Johnson: “The gun violence. Correct.”

  The logic behind this claim, Johnson explained, was that his data showed about 1,400 people were “driving most of the violence in Chicago.” And those 1,400 people were very likely to qualify for the enhanced penalties. Get them off the street for longer periods and crime would plummet.

Too bad the elimination of the gang database means the CPD can't keep track of those 1,400 or their associates any longer.

Guess what did happen though?

• In other words, while more people have clearly been sentenced to more time in prison because of this law (particularly Black men from Cook County), gun crimes have just as clearly not been reduced by half, or even close to half.

We bring this up why?

• I’m telling you this because the Senate is set to take up a bill (SB 853) that would extend several statutory sunset provisions, including those UUW changes made in 2017. The law had been set to expire in January 2024, but the proposal would extend that deadline for another year.

  This could be an interesting debate and a political temperature check on the General Assembly. Illinois politicians have taken a lot of public heat over crime and the criminal justice reform bills they’ve passed. Allowing penalty enhancements to expire on repeat felony offenders, essentially letting them out of prison earlier than before, regardless of its impact on actual crime statistics would certainly be a bold move.

A useless law passed by democrats who want to see everyone disarmed versus a law that is obviously racist as black men from Cook County are getting heavy sentences....if Crimesha charges and convicts them, which is doubtful to say the least.

The democrats will be twisting themselves into pretzels over this one.