Issue Position: Crime, Justice and the Judiciary

Issue Position

Issue Position: Crime, Justice and the Judiciary

As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I have been heavily involved in promoting criminal justice, safeguarding our civil and constitutional rights, and evaluating the Bush Administration's Judicial and Executive Branch nominations. I have also been active in conducting oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal offices when they have enacted policies that undermine our fundamental rights and liberties. I am dedicated to reducing crime and promoting justice both in Illinois and the nation, and to seeing that all citizens are provided with the guarantees and protections afforded them by the U.S. Constitution.

Preventing Gang and Gun Violence

Communities in Illinois and across the country deal with senseless gang violence every day. To address the problem of gang violence, we need to emphasize both prevention efforts and enforcement initiatives. I support efforts to combine tough penalties with effective prevention to help put gangs out of business. I've co-sponsored legislation to provide federal resources for local police and prosecutors to investigate gangs, bring cases to court, and protect witnesses from retaliation. It also would provide millions in funding for gang prevention organizations who are working to prevent gang involvement and violence.

It is a tragedy when lives are suddenly and violently cut short by gun violence. While Americans are entitled to own and use guns in a responsible fashion, we must ensure that our laws are working effectively to keep guns out of the hands of those prohibited by law from using them. I support tough crime control and prevention initiatives, and I support efforts to address illegal possession and use of firearms, such as efforts to enhance the federal crime gun tracing system and strengthen the federal criminal background check system. I will continue to support measures that will reduce gun violence and help ensure that our nation's gun laws are vigorously enforced.

Strengthening the Criminal Justice System

I am committed to ensuring that our criminal justice system functions effectively and enjoys the confidence of the public. However, in recent years, prosecutor and public defender offices in Illinois and throughout the nation have had serious difficulties recruiting and retaining qualified attorneys to handle criminal cases. When prosecutor and defender offices cannot attract new lawyers or keep experienced ones, their ability to protect the public is compromised: caseloads become unmanageable, cases can be delayed or mishandled, crimes may go unprosecuted, and innocent defendants may sit in jail.

In response, I have introduced legislation, which the Senate has approved, to bolster our prosecutor and public defender offices by providing student loan repayment assistance to attorneys who commit to criminal justice careers. I will continue to work to ensure that this legislation, the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act, is enacted into law.

Meth and Rural Law Enforcement

The plague of methamphetamine abuse is growing in Illinois and across the nation, posing unique challenges for law enforcement agencies and first responders in rural areas. This drug has major implications for children and families and their communities. In recent years, more than half of the children entering foster care in some areas of rural southeastern Illinois were forced into the program because their caretakers were meth abusers. Meth is tearing apart our families and overwhelming our child welfare network. As a member of the Senate's Anti-Meth Caucus, I strongly support programs to provide these regions with the resources they need to keep their communities safe.

In partnership with the Illinois Sheriffs' Association, I secured funding for an ad campaign to promote awareness and prevention of methamphetamine abuse in southern and central Illinois. And I continue to support efforts to make it more difficult for meth "cooks" to obtain the chemicals needed to make meth. I have also offered legislation to provide comprehensive family-based substance abuse treatment for pregnant and parenting women suffering from meth addiction. These programs serve the needs of the entire family rather than just the parent, and have a track record of success, increasing long-term sobriety, education enrollment, and gainful employment, while decreasing criminal activity and child development issues.

Court Security

The murders of the husband and mother of Chicago Federal Judge Joan Lefkow in February 2005 taught us a tragic lesson about the need to improve the security of our federal judges. I have helped lead that effort in the Senate, securing funding so that every federal judge in America could have a security system installed in their home.

I am spearheading an effort to improve the security of courthouses in Illinois and across America. I am also an original co-sponsor of legislation to enhance privacy rights of federal judges and to provide more resources to the U.S. Marshals Service, the security arm of the federal judiciary. Our federal judges dedicate themselves to seeing justice served. In return, we should take every step necessary to preserve their lives.

Civil Rights

Despite the progress made in this country during the civil rights era and beyond, we still have much to do to ensure that every citizen has full access to the rights and liberties afforded by the Constitution. I have been a leader in the Senate on civil rights issues. I have supported legislation over the years to guarantee such universal freedoms as voting rights, and I have opposed legislative measures that would restrict the right to vote through restrictive identification requirements that have an adverse impact on minorities, the disabled, low-income citizens, and the elderly. I have also served as a watchdog when it comes to civil rights enforcement by the U.S. Department of Justice. I have interrogated Attorney General Gonzales and, before him, Attorney General Ashcroft about the decline in cases and the rise of politicization in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. I have pushed for more resources so that federal prosecutors and FBI agents can focus on unsolved murders from the civil rights era, in order to bring to justice people who have perpetrated heinous crimes based on racial hatred.

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