By David Harris
Here in Illinois, where I’m incarcerated, there is a lot of political outcry over wrongful convictions, police torture, race based sentencing practices, and political fear mongering. With all the outcry and promises of change., ground-breaking reforms are mere half measures leaving the gashing wound of injustice bleeding out.
Interestingly, Illinois was at the forefront of juvenile justice in the 1800s, in creating a separate system that recognized that minors were developmentally different from adults. Over time, fear mongering created a fear of the children society was meant to protect and evolved into life-term sentences for children. When a new monster was needed the Black and Latino populations were singled out with the war on drugs campaign, that labeled them as monsters looking to invade neighborhoods and corrupt children. This led to the massive, and extremely lopsided, incarceration of Blacks, and Latinos. People of color represent over half of those incarcerated. Under the Republican leadership of Nixon and Reagan the War on Drugs introduced mass incarceration of Blacks and Latinos 
into the justice system, making possession of small amounts of drugs punishable by sentencing terms equal to violent offenses. By putting a Black face on drug crimes entire communities were devastated, lives were destroyed. It was all too easy to accept locking Black people away to safeguard their children. Then, once the 1990s came around, and locking up Blacks and Latinos didn’t stop the white population from abusing drugs, the justification was no longer there.
When Bill Clinton entered office, soon after observing the execution of mentally disabled Ricky Ray Rector to show his tough on crime stance, he and Hillary Clinton rebranded Blacks and Latinos from the cause of America’s drug problem—to the vicious, blood thirsty, super-predator. This new scary black, and brown monster didn’t want to addict your children; they wanted to kill everything without distinction.
In order to protect society, they had to be locked away, without thought or mercy. Leading to more states (including Illinois) to adopt mandatory minimum sentencing, which included a bonus of federal funding for adopting the no mercy truth-in-sentencing guidelines.
This collective abuse of a population of people became uncomfortably noticeable by two revelations. That the effect of removing so many from a population caused an increase of misguided, misdirected aggression in its youth, leading to record shattering violence and death. Then the point which bothered government and society—the cost of over-population in placing millions into the justice system from county jails, probation, parole, to physical incarceration.
Today the pacification tactics of the Civil Rights era are back in use. The judicial reform movement, has, nevertheless, not led to the implementation of any effective policies. For example, the Federal government’s push for laws saying that law enforcement can be held accountable for criminal acts. The reality is they have always been able to be prosecuted for criminal acts. The problem is that they were allowed to operate without being called to be held accountable for their crimes and used as instruments of control.
As people filled the streets with their outrage, states implemented laws that had no significant effect on correcting the injustice inflicted for decades by a corrupt justice system.
Illinois has passed three reform laws which gave the image of great significance. The Youthful Offender Parole Act, The State Resentencing Motion, and The Justice Reform Act. The youthful offender parole act is a law that would allow those who were under 21 years old at the time of offense to apply for parole after serving 20 years. That is a wonderful opportunity for a child to be rehabilitated and given a second chance. Yet they made it non-retroactive, which means no child can apply for it until 2036, and those who were sentenced before 2016 can’t petition at all.
The law is a shiny half measure that has no effect. Illinois passed the State Resentencing Motion law, which was created to petition the court for resentencing hearings where the sentence no longer serves the interest of justice, where long-term sentences were handed down on children, and those convicted under the theory of accountability, and have shown that they have been rehabilitated. The problem comes in where the same states attorneys, who vilified these children as monsters who should never see the light of day, are the ones who are being asked to file the petition on their behalf. State’s attorney offices quickly implemented policies that would keep those with long-term sentences to be the last ones considered. Essentially all lower-level crimes would get first opportunity, and would continuously push long-termers back, defeating the purpose of the law. A half measure with no effect.
Then we have the Justice Reform Act, which encompassed different aspects of the justice system. It created laws in how police in the state operated when making arrests and wearing mandatory body cameras. It received national attention for the elimination of cash bail, which is being challenged in state court. Then there is the quietly implemented earned sentencing credits. Where inmates can earn sentencing credits to shorten their sentence. They can earn time for working educational programing, social programing, and good behavior. It is relying on the department of corrections to create opportunities and determine if they will issue the time. To date, institutions in Illinois aren’t offering college classes, social programing, and job opportunities. Even going to the extreme of blocking inmates’ opportunities at rehabilitation. So, where someone would be able to take years off their sentence, they are being forced to serve as much of their original sentence as possible. Half measure with no effect.
With all the uproar and turmoil of the last 3 years, our society has been pacified by the illusion of progress. The implementation of laws around the justice reform does nothing to repair the decades of injustice. People only want to be looked upon as valuable members of this world but continue to be sung lullabies and are lured to sleep while being denied equality.
