Karen Donnelly, a former LaSalle County State’s Attorney and current Grundy County prosecutor, was approached by members of the HRO and they asked her if she would ever consider running.
She decided it was probably the right time to do this.
“People have to have a choice and that was one of my frustrations going to the ballot box, is a lot of times there was no choice. I talked to my family and we decided it was the right time and I would go ahead and do this,” said Donnelly.
Donnelly has a bachelor’s degree in social and criminal justice.
“I did a lot of work in, not just the criminal justice aspect, but about social justice and how you bring about change and how you keep people out of the criminal justice system. I do have that knowledge of the criminal justice reform, what we do as prosecutors, what we do as anybody who works in the criminal justice system,” said Donnelly. “What is the purpose, what are we trying to accomplish? I think one of the big things we are trying to do is make the community safe. I do believe that is an important issue to the heartland.”
Donnelly said she thinks her knowledge in the criminal justice system will carry over and hopefully make our community safer and this 105th district.
Donnelly said there are absolutely problems with the legislation, because that legislation suits Cook County.
“What I’m hearing from officers is over and over and over is the no cash bail. We can’t let Kim Foxx’s catch and release program hit the heartlands,” said Donnelly. “This new criminal justice reform with the no cash bail, we’re starting to see it. Judges are already starting to not necessarily implement it as it is drawn, but the bail amount has been significantly reduced. I’ve noticed it from going from LaSalle County to Grundy County. These people are getting released over and over and it’s a catch and release program. They get out and they offend again and it’s just a never ending cycle.”
Donnelly said she is not going to support the current legislation or version of criminal justice reform.
“We have to be realistic in what we are doing and these unfunded mandates about body cameras and everything, you are going to see a lot of these small town law enforcement agencies shut their doors. They can’t do the body cameras, they can’t support where they store the data, how they have to redact the information,” said Donnelly. “That’s stuff we are fighting with right now in Grundy County. Who’s responsible for redacting that information from those body cameras? If there is a juvenile on film, you have to black out their faces. Their identity can not be known. That’s one of the issues that Springfield never considered when they passed this legislation and that is the problem.”
Donnelly said there is an absolute problem with our DCFS.
The director was held in contempt.
“That is a mechanism that we have considered using in Grundy County. I’m a juvenile attorney in Grundy County and we have to place these children and there are no facilities,” said Donnelly. “I have the investigators, the case workers from DCFS come to me in tears, because some of the children are not able to be housed. There are a lot of good case workers and investigators out there for DCFS and they care deeply about their jobs, but it starts from the top. When you’ve got your own director being held in contempt that speaks volumes that the system needs to be fixed.”
In the Illinois Senate, Democrats hold the majority so how would Donnelly work with the other side of the aisle?
“I don’t think it should be a republican democrat issue it should be a safety issue, it should be an issue that you work together on to find a solution. I will do whatever it takes to work with the democrats. I’ve had to do that as a prosecutor, I’ve had to work with defense lawyers to find the best solution,” said Donnelly. “As a juvenile prosecutor you reach out to DCFS and try to come to the best solutions. So it’s a give and take and a compromise. Like I said I have no problem reaching out to them, but if they don’t buy into what I’m trying to sell I’ll still push for it. I have no problem pushing.”
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