The below statement can be attributed to Colleen Connell, Executive Director, ACLU of Illinois:
 
“For the second time in weeks, the people of Chicago are presented with video footage of a young Latino man being shot and killed by police during a foot pursuit. Again, a family suffers as the Alvarez family experiences the grief and pain of witnessing the last moments of a loved one.  
 
Chicago communities also suffer trauma with each of these releases - especially Latino communities, which once again see how police respond to people from their neighborhoods. We mourn this loss of life and the repeated trauma experienced by Chicago communities.  
 
The investigation of Mr. Alvarez’s death, like that of Adam Toledo, must be complete and transparent. The people of Chicago deserve answers. And just as important, Chicago residents deserve meaningful changes to policing. They deserve a new policy on foot pursuits that is informed by community voices and driven by community needs - and one that actually results in changes in how police officers treat human beings. This is but one step in creating a Chicago Police Department that serves all Chicagoans, including Black and Brown people.
 
The lack of meaningful police reform in Chicago is not only costing the City lives, but also taking a psychological toll on communities of color. The City must abandon the current snail’s pace of police reform and become serious about making real changes that serve all neighborhoods.”

Date

Wednesday, April 28, 2021 - 10:45am

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The following statement can be attributed to the ACLU of Illinois:
 
“The Illinois House of Representatives today continued its tradition of balancing new technology and protecting our personal privacy. House Bill 2553, the Protecting Household Privacy Act, assures that the growing number of smart technology devices in our homes will not be used to invade our personal privacy. With the popularity of virtual assistants, Ring doorbells, and smart appliances, we know that many residents of Illinois are enjoying the convenience of these devices. But those devices should not become another tool for increased surveillance that allows law-enforcement to gather personal information from inside our homes without any regulation.
 
HB 2553 places modest regulations on if, when, and how law-enforcement can access intimate data collected by household electronic devices. Today's vote represents the Illinois House of Representatives' commitment to protect personal privacy and ensure our residents can enjoy new, developing technology, without sacrificing their privacy. 
 
We applaud State Representative Ann Williams for her leadership in this area and appreciate the unanimous and bi-partisan support from all those who voted for this bill in the House.”

Date

Thursday, April 22, 2021 - 5:30pm

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By Emily Werth, Staff Attorney, Women's and Reproductive Rights Project

When Laura Bowers was sentenced to life in prison in 1990 in connection with the death of her abusive husband, neither society nor the legal system understood the ramifications of surviving domestic violence.

If Ms. Bowers had tried to flee her abusive marriage, she would be perceived as unstable or irrational. If she had fought back against the abuse, she could be punished by law. And if she stayed with her abuser, she would be deemed not credible if she later reported the abuse.

In the intervening decades, however, our understanding of how domestic abuse impacts survivors and the lasting trauma they suffer has evolved significantly. As a result, policymakers have adopted many reforms to try to ensure that the legal system responds to survivors appropriately. One of these reforms was the addition in 2016 of a provision to Illinois state law that permits a survivor of domestic violence by an intimate partner to petition the court for a new sentencing hearing that takes account of mitigating evidence regarding their experience of abuse that they were unable to present at the time they were originally sentenced for a crime.

This law was meant to address the long history of the legal system misunderstanding and mistreating survivors of domestic violence. But as soon as it was passed, prosecutors started arguing for an absurd and arbitrary interpretation that would have decimated its impact: that resentencing relief was only available to people who were convicted within two years of when they filed their petitions. This means that anyone sent to prison before 2014 would be completely out of luck. The people most likely to benefit from the law – those who went to prison decades ago before the development of our modern understandings about domestic violence and its lasting effects – would be left out with no recourse entirely.

Fortunately, some prosecutors, including the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, eventually changed course and recognized that this arbitrary two-year time limit was not correct. But when Laura Bowers sought resentencing in Macon County, a judge there dismissed her petition for being too late, even though it would have been impossible for her to request resentencing within two years of being first sentenced in 1990 because the law itself was not changed until 2016. Ms. Bowers has continued her fight by appealing her case to Illinois’ Fourth District Appellate Court.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and a number of other groups that work on issues of domestic violence and mass incarceration have sought permission to submit an amicus brief to the Fourth District Appellate Court in support of Laura Bowers’ request to have a resentencing hearing. The other participating organizations are Ascend Justice, Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Legal Action Chicago, The Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services, Life Span, The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, and Women’s Justice Institute.

Represented by attorneys from the ACLU of Illinois and Sidley Austin LLP, these groups explained the history of social and legal treatment of domestic violence and how it must inform a correct interpretation of the law that reaches Ms. Bowers and other survivors in a similar position.

The sad truth is the vast majority of women in prison were previously victims of violence, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. A crucial part of the effort to end mass incarceration includes recognizing and accounting for this unfortunate reality. 

A fair chance at resentencing for Laura Bowers would be one small step in that direction.

Date

Thursday, April 22, 2021 - 9:45am

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