Illinois Republicans propose overhaul for Gov. Pritzker’s ‘anti-victim’ parole board after stabbing

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois Senate’s minority leader proposed legislation Tuesday to overhaul the Democrat’s Prisoner Review Board, after it released a convicted domestic abuser who then attacked a pregnant Chicago woman with a knife and fatally stabbed her 11-year-old son.

Republican Leader John Curran criticized Gov. J.B. Pritzker and said he will introduce legislation that includes requirements for appointees to have 20 years’ criminal justice experience as a prosecutor, defense attorney, probation officer or judge and that each member undergo annual training on domestic violence and sexual assault and the warning signs that precede repeat attacks. Other proposed measures would require advance notice to victims of the board’s decision to release perpetrators and more transparency on the board’s deliberations in each case, including how they voted.

“For too long, these $100,000-a-year positions at the Prisoner Review Board have been given to political appointees who don’t have the requisite experience to make these life-and-death decisions,” Curran, who’s from the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, told reporters in a teleconference. “We must take politics out of the appointment process to create a qualified board with a deep understanding of the criminal justice system.”

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