People in Illinois’ court system, not just judges, are in for some new learning in the New Year.
The Illinois Judicial College is launching. The college’s chairman, Cook County Judge Tom Donnelly, says the idea is to provide continuing education to not just judges, but to all court staff, particularly those who have more contact with defendants and litigants than judges do.
Getting everyone involved in the sentencing process onto the same page – providing consistency – is one of the goal.
Donnelley said there’s a vast amount of scientific information about what certain defendants are helped by and getting use of these assessment tools will be very helpful to probation officers. Training has been provided to Illinois judges, but Donnelley says, not to probation officers.
Another problem the college can solve, Donnelly says, is the reluctance of a court clerk to help people out of fear he or she would be providing “legal advice.” That’s against the law. Providing “legal information,” though, is not, and Donnelly says it’s important for staff to be able to tell the difference.
In other State news, the effort to allow the Mayor of Chicago to be recalled has the support of Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Rauner says he’d sign the legislation introduced last month by State Reps. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) and Mary Flowers (D-Chicago), though he added that he’d prefer a statewide recall bill be considered by the General Assembly.
When asked whether he personally still has confidence in Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Rauner did offer some criticism over his handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting, saying he’s very disappointed in the mayor and state’s attorney for Cook County, but declined to comment further due to the ongoing investigation.
While Rauner says he’d sign the bill allowing the position Emanuel holds to be subject to recall, he doesn’t believe it can be applied to Emanuel himself.
The only offices which can be recalled under current Illinois law are governor, which was enacted by a constitutional amendment, and local elected officials in the village of Buffalo Grove, thanks to ordinance which was used in a successful recall effort of a village trustee in 2010.
