SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers advanced a bill that would emphasize domestic violence awareness training for members of the state’s Prisoner Review Board, which came under criticism after releasing a man from state custody who then allegedly attacked a former girlfriend and fatally stabbed her young son.
The Democratic-led House passed the legislation Tuesday by a near party-line vote of 74-37 and it now heads to Gov. JB Pritzker, who a spokesperson said Wednesday intends to sign the bill into law. The bill passed in the Senate last month, with three moderate Democrats joining Republicans in voting against it: Patrick Joyce of Reddick, Meg Loughran Cappel of Shorewood and Suzy Glowiak Hilton of Western Springs.
The bill’s passage came 14 months after authorities say Crosetti Brand broke into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment on Chicago’s North Side and attacked her before fatally stabbing her son, 11-year-old Jayden Perkins, when the boy tried to come to her rescue. The 39-year-old Brand is on trial for the attack and Jayden’s family has filed a lawsuit against the review board alleging negligence in the case.
The case became a political challenge for Pritzker as the review board had been criticized a couple of years before the attack by state legislative Republicans for authorizing the early release of people convicted of killing police officers, children and committing mass murder.
In light of Jayden’s case, two review board members, including the chairman, resigned. The crime also led to the appointment of an executive director for the board. Pritzker was also critical of how Brand’s case was handled.
“It is clear that evidence in this case was not given the careful consideration that victims of domestic violence deserve and I am committed to ensuring additional safeguards and training are in place to prevent tragedies like this from happening again,” the governor said last year.
Since then, there have been at least two efforts to reform the review board but those have failed to get through the General Assembly.
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Chicago Democrat and a leader of the reform efforts, said a version of the bill that failed to pass during the lame-duck session in early January didn’t do enough to address domestic violence issues, which is why she especially welcomed the passage of the revamped bill.
“This is everything that I worked on with the advocates,” Cassidy, who worked on the bill with Chicago Democratic Rep. Will Guzzardi, said Tuesday. “In the lame-duck version, absolutely none of the domestic violence advocates’ materials were included. It just was simply omitted.”
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy talks with Rep. Greg Harris at the Illinois Capitol building in Springfield on Jan. 10, 2023. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Under the bill sent to Pritzker, the review board is required to run a Law Enforcement Agencies Data System, or LEADS, report, which typically has information about a person’s criminal history including orders of protection filed against them, before making a decision on whether to revoke someone’s parole or mandatory supervised release.
The board within 60 days must also publish on its website its decision and the name and identification number of individuals accused of violating their terms of release.
Board members currently must have five years of experience in corrections, law enforcement, law, education, sociology, social work, medicine, psychology or other behavioral sciences. The bill would expand those requirements to include “advocacy for victims of crime and their families, advocacy for survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, or intimate partner violence.”
In addition, the bill would require seven of the board’s maximum 15 members to have at least five years of experience as a law enforcement officer, parole officer, prosecutor, criminal defense lawyer or judge. Board members are appointed by the governor with consent of the Senate.
The legislation would require board members to participate annually in 20 hours of training on topics including domestic violence, restorative justice, racial bias, mental health and trauma. They would also be required to be trained on lethality of domestic violence and gender-based violence.
Republican lawmakers supported an earlier version of the bill that included a requirement that recordings of much of the board’s hearings be made public. The GOP also raised concerns about why the terms of the board members were extended from six years to eight years, arguing that could limit the Senate’s consent role in appointments.
“My concern is that you’ve got these members who are now going to be in office for eight years and they are going to have less accountability than they had before and that’s not a good thing,” said Sen. Steve McClure, a Republican from Springfield and an ardent critic of the Pritzker administration’s handling of the review board. “That’s a public safety issue. And this is all in light of the fact that we lost a brave hero in our state, Jayden Perkins, who was trying to defend his mother last year.”
Democrats, including Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, contended the eight-year terms would help board members be more effective.
“I think with an eight-year term, members will be less concerned about being reappointed and will serve their term and do the best work that they can do,” Harmon said.
