SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is disappointed that House Democratic lawmakers are allowing a 2018 criminal justice law to sunset at the end of this year. Raoul was the lead sponsor of the legislation that created new sentencing guidelines for repeat gun offenders.

Anyone charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon faces a wide sentencing range from 3-14 years in jail. The 2018 law allowed judges to consider sentencing repeat gun offenders to 7-14 years behind bars.

"Someone who is a risk to public safety needs to be incapacitated at least for some period of time such that you protect the public and give that individual some time to rethink what they want to be engaged in," Raoul told WAND News in an exclusive interview.

Raoul's law also stated that people convicted of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon several times could serve 6-7 years in jail. The Attorney General stressed that is is wrong to characterize the statute as a new mandatory minimum or penalty enhancement.

"That's hogwash," Raoul said. "I really encourage the members of the General Assembly, many of whom are my friends, to actually read the bill. Read the law. The law preserves judicial discretion."

A measure to extend the sentencing guidelines through January 1, 2025 passed out of the Senate last week on a bipartisan 42-12 vote. Yet, the plan quickly came to a halt in the House where most Democratic members strongly oppose penalty enhancements.

Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) shared frustration on social media over Senate Democrats using one of his environmental protection bills as a vehicle for their legislation to extend the statue. 

"I strongly oppose sentencing enhancements with no proven benefit to public safety," Guzzardi said. "The data on this particular measure is indisputable. It has increased incarceration and has not reduced gun violence." 

Guzzardi stressed that he would not allow House Bill 1440 to advance and blocked it from being called for a vote in the chamber. Raoul told WAND News that he was shocked to hear about this situation while he was working in Washington D.C. 

"I somewhat blame myself. Had I anticipated that there would be this level of pushback on this, I would've had individual conversations with legislators to try and help explain it," Raoul admitted. "I think a lot of people just had a misunderstanding of what the statute actually does."

Kwame Raoul

The Attorney General stressed that is is wrong to characterize the statute as a new mandatory minimum or penalty enhancement.

Of course, the makeup of the General Assembly has changed since Raoul left and became the Attorney General. Raoul said he's not naive that there are more progressive members in the House and Senate.

"I certainly think that with a supermajority, with such large Democratic caucuses, comes a diversity of views. That's difficult to manage," Raoul said. "We need to be careful about not being careful enough when working on criminal justice issues and criminal justice reform."

Raoul said he is committed to speaking with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and advocacy groups to encourage them to bring the statute back in the future. He stressed that the state still has to maintain a justice system that holds people accountable for crimes that harm public safety.

"Repeat gun offenders are not a population that I would call a population to be sympathetic to given the fact that gun violence has surpassed automobile accidents as the number one killer of our children," Raoul said.

The Attorney General explained he hoped to see the General Assembly end the sunset and allow the statute to be a permanent standard for sentencing. 

Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) said Democrats used "partisan games" to kill the statute that has helped keep many dangerous felons off the street.

"To remove a protection for the citizens of our state when they are being ravaged by gun violence is really troublesome," McClure said.

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