Governor Bruce Rauner says he’ll work to implement the recommendations of his criminal justice commission.
He stopped by a meeting today, as commissioners were debating how to address the fact that African Americans are far more likely to be arrested and go to prison than other racial groups.Rauner says it’s an important subject."I don’t think there’s any question that there is bias within the system. The system is built of human beings and human beings have biases. But we’ve got to serve the people of Illinois well, we’ve got to talk about it, not be afraid to talk about it."
The commission has completed a preliminary set of recommendations, but is taking another few months to deal with more politically sensitive issues.
That could include the racial question, whether to cut sentences for drug crimes, and whether to change Illinois’ strict “truth-in-sentencing” laws.