Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she is infuriated by a published report that revealed that the Illinois State Police has ignored thousands of court-ordered sealings and expungements of criminal records.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she is infuriated by a published report that revealed that the Illinois State Police has ignored thousands of court-ordered sealings and expungements of criminal records.
The report, published by the Chicago Reporter, detailed that the Illinois State Police ignored 8,583 court orders to seal or expunge the records of reformed ex-offenders throughout the state from 2004 to 2008. In Cook County, 6,948 orders were not enforced.
In an e-mail statement to the Reporter on Saturday, Madigan said, “This is a shocking defiance of the law. Ignoring these expungement orders negatively impacts the lives of too many people who deserve a fair opportunity to get a job in order to take care of their families.”
Madigan told the Defender that she has not yet heard from the state police as to why they failed to move on the orders. “These are people who have done the right thing and gone through the proper procedures and thought they had their paperwork in order,” Madigan said. She said she has begun a series of meetings with Judge Paul Beibel, head of the Cook County Circuit Court Criminal Division, where many of the expungement orders originated, to “begin work on a court-mandated compliance and remediation plan to require the state police to follow the law. The order will cover all of the outstanding expungement and sealing orders arising out of the Circuit Court of Cook County.” A similar plan will soon be worked out to cover other outstanding cases outside Cook County, she said.
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