Making it a felony to violate an order of protection might keep domestic violence survivors safe
Chicago police stand outside the Edgewater apartment where a pregnant woman and her 11-year-old son, Jayden Perkins, were stabbed last month. Jayden later died. Crosetti Brand, the mother’s ex-boyfriend, was charged in the attack.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
A protective order can help keep domestic violence survivors safer, but it isn't a panacea.
Abusers can get triggered that such a measure was sought against them. And when they've already demonstrated they don't care much about the law, a legal document isn't likely to compel them to keep their distance.
A handful of violations of orders of protection certainly didn't stop Crosetti Brand who, according to police, went to an ex-girlfriend's Edgewater apartment a few months after he was released from prison.
When Brand was sent back behind bars for doing so, he was able to convince the Illinois Prisoner Review Board he'd done nothing wrong and was released. He went back to the woman's home and attacked the woman, police say.
She survived the March 13 attack. Her son, 11-year-old Jayden Perkins, didn't. His murder quickly prompted criticism of the criminal justice system and led to the resignation of the chairman and another member of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board.
State Senate Republicans chimed in this week with suggestions that could keep similar tragedies from occurring. Some of those suggestions make sense, though Republicans also took the opportunity to take potshots at Gov. J.B. Pritzker and make other recommendations that the governor's office says are already "standard practice."
"The most far left anti-victim people" were appointed by the governor to the Review Board, State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, said. Never mind, the two board members who resigned, Donald Shelton and LeAnn Miller, are Republican.
Partisan grand-standing aside, Senate Republicans did offer an idea that could provide additional safeguards to domestic violence survivors and others: enhanced criminal penalties for those who violate a protection order.
Most Illinoisans who violate an order of protection currently are charged with a misdemeanor. Under the reforms the Senate Republicans unveiled Tuesday, a first-time violation would be upgraded to a Class 4 felony; if the protection order involved a previous conviction, the felony would be enhanced to a Class 3.
Harsher punishment might well be a deterrent. Abusers might feel less emboldened and rethink their actions. Protection orders are only effective if the legal system and law enforcement authorities take them, and the fears of survivors, seriously and hold offenders accountable.
Illinois lawmakers should, at the very least, talk with domestic violence experts and survivors on the idea.
No deterrent is a guarantee. But if there is evidence that tougher penalties for protection order violations can deter abusers and help save lives, it's worth changing the law.
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