News & Commentary

The below statement can be attributed to Nusrat Choudhury, legal director at the ACLU of Illinois: “The Monitor’s report issued last night begs a simple question: What change in policing are Chicago residents actually seeing in their neighborhoods? This question urgently needs a positive answer more than two years after the entry of a federal court consent decree governing Chicago police to remedy patterns of excessive force against people of color and people with disabilities. But Black and Brown neighborhoods are seeing little, if any, change. The City has made insufficient progress in changing policing on the ground. Today’s report catalogues once again that the City and Chicago Police Department missed most deadlines—measures required under the consent decree to fix broken policing in a City with a painful history of police violence. Most strikingly, the monitor’s report shows a continued absence of real community engagement – the lynchpin of ensuring that changes to policing address communities’ needs and painstakingly rebuild the trust between police and neighborhoods that has been destroyed. The Monitor finds that the City and CPD lack consistent procedures for engaging community members and, that when they do reach out, they prevent “meaningful participation” by seeking public comment late in the process when policies are close to being finalized. This is not community engagement. The City and CPD must actually want to meet early with community members and organizations from the neighborhoods most impacted by police violence, be open to their recommendations, and collaborate on solutions. This approach has been woefully absent from the City’s response to community concerns about wrong home raids that hurt Black and Brown communities, where the City has not met with the coalition of community organizations enforcing the Chicago Police consent decree, which raised this issue months ago. The Monitor recognizes that many of those who protested in the streets of Chicago last summer following the horrific killing of George Floyd are calling for police accountability and other changes that directly relate to around twenty separate provisions of the Chicago policing consent decree. Yet, Chicago police met many protesters with baton strikes to the head, pepper spray, retaliation for recording police violence, and efforts to evade accountability by covering their name badges and star numbers. In the face of this real time police violence in the midst of calls for racial justice, missing fewer deadlines and providing documents to the Monitor is not enough. We call on the City to reflect in its conduct that the consent decree is an opportunity for working with community partners in the hard work of transformational change to advance fairness and safety for all communities.  It has been four years since the U.S. Department of Justice report laid bare the problems causing the Chicago Police Department’s pattern of unconstitutional police violence against people of color. The need for action cannot wait another day.”

The following statement can be attributed to Khadine Bennett, Director of Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs, ACLU of Illinois: 

A bill that would install a public health approach to drug use in Illinois today cleared a key House Committee in Springfield. Rejecting the failed policies of the “War on Drugs,” House Bill 3447 reduces penalties for small-scale drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor. Testimony before the Committee demonstrated the compelling need for shifting the State’s approach to drug use. The vote in favor of the bill was 12 to 7. 

The below statement can be attributed to Nusrat Choudhury, legal director at the ACLU of Illinois:

Don’t gut Illinois law that prohibits the secret sale of our fingerprints and other biometric informationUnder the guise of helping small businesses, lawmakers are trying to repeal or eviscerate Illinois’ pioneering Biometric Information Protection Act.

Law Violates Young People’s Human Rights, Can Delay Their Care

Two bills threatening to weaken the nation’s strongest biometric information privacy law will get a hearing on Tuesday in the Illinois House Judiciary – Civil Committee. The proposals, House Bill 559 and House Bill 560, effectively gut the meaning and enforcement of the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), adopted unanimously by both legislative chambers a little more than a decade ago. The effort to reverse the law comes after court decisions in recent years that have held large companies like Six Flags and Facebook accountable for collecting and using the biometric information of Illinois residents. 

Earlier today, officials from the DuPage County Jail confirmed to a federal court in Chicago that Christine Finnigan, a woman with the disability of opioid use disorder (OUD), will be provided her life-saving, prescribed medication for addiction treatment while she is at the DuPage County Jail. Critically, the officials tell the court that “Ms. Finnigan will continue receiving her methadone prescription for the duration of her incarceration so long as she does not develop any health issue which contraindicates continuing methadone treatment.” Ms. Finnigan was represented in this matter by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Illinois, Legal Action Center, and the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center. In response to today’s news, Ms. Finnigan’s legal team issued the following statement:  “We are thrilled for Christine and pleased that the Jail intends to provide her prescribed, life-saving medication during this time. It will be a great relief to her. As we have said throughout our pursuit of this matter, the critical issue was protecting Christine’s life and recovery. We also want to recognize Christine’s bravery in bringing this suit. During the litigation, the Jail revealed that it had not provided methadone to a single non-pregnant person since 2016. We hope that the discussion around Christine’s case will encourage DuPage County officials to adopt permanent policies to allow any person with the disability of opioid use disorder to receive life-saving addiction treatment medication. This will save lives in Illinois.”

Today, Governor Pritzker signed HB 3653 into law.