Illinois lawmakers advance bill requiring police training to minimize trauma for sexual assault victims
Illinois lawmakers on Thursday advanced legislation requiring increased police training on sexual assault cases that would include practices 'meant to minimize traumatization of the victim.'
The training required by the legislation, now heading to Gov. JB Pritzker's desk, would also focus on identifying and addressing conflicts of interest when officers involved in the case are familiar with the victim or accused. The 'trauma-informed' training is intended to promote handling people involved in sexual assault cases in a sensitive way, said state Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, the bill's sponsor and a Democrat from Libertyville.
The bill was dubbed 'Anna's Law' because it was championed by an Illinois resident, Anna Williams, who told state lawmakers that she was unfairly overlooked by law enforcement when she filed a sexual assault report.
'The detective working my case lied on my statements, and it was brushed off when I mentioned it to the chief,' Williams said at a late April legislative hearing. 'I was frequently asked if I was sure that it was not consensual. If we pass the bill, it will help survivors heal from the assault, and then it gives them a fighting chance. It will validate their experiences.'
An initial version of the bill was met with opposition in part due to a provision penalizing officers if they did not complete the training, Edly-Allen said. Law enforcement officials also wanted the training to be administered by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, instead of the state Department of Human Services as initially written, she said.
'Personally, I did not want anything punitive,' Edly-Allen said. 'It's about when you know better, you do better, just understanding that we all experience life differently.'
The Illinois Sheriffs' Association initially filed in opposition of the legislation, but said Thursday they switched their position to neutral after the bill was amended in the Senate.
Proponents of the legislation also include the Illinois National Organization for Women, Illinois Collaboration on Youth, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence.
'The passage of Anna's Law is another step in the direction of ensuring our law enforcement responses to sexual and domestic violence are survivor-centered and trauma-informed,' said Maralea Negron, director of policy, advocacy and research at The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence. 'Addressing conflicts of interest in law enforcement responses will directly support survivors who hesitate to report because of these associated risks.'
Edly-Allen credited Williams with pushing her to champion the legislation.
'I actually was a little nervous carrying the bill originally, but her determination and her unwavering bravery to say 'No, this is wrong, we need to change it,' empowered me,' Edly-Allen said. 'She empowered me to do this legislation.'
_____
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Kweisi Mfume is pitching an old-school approach to one of House Democrats' highest-profile jobs
Frustrated by Democrats' seniority system, Kweisi Mfume fled the House three decades ago, saying he could do more to advance civil rights from the outside. Now he's back and trying to reap the benefits of seniority at a moment when many in his party are starting to openly question it. The Baltimore native last month surprised many House colleagues by entering the wide-open race to lead Democrats on the high-profile Oversight Committee, seeking to fill the spot vacated by the sudden death of Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly. Into the void jumped a pair of young, ambitious members — Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Robert Garcia of California — as well as a close Connolly ally, Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts. And then there's Mfume, who at 76 is making no bones about this being the capstone of a long career that included stints leading the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP — jobs he took back in the 1990s. 'I started a long time ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth,' Mfume joked in an interview, before describing his old-school approach to legislative relations: 'The first thing you learn is how to count votes, which has never failed me yet,' he said, adding that he would be careful not to alienate colleagues 'by doing something that causes problems for them in their district.' Rather than detail a point-by-point agenda for taking on President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, Mfume said if elected he'd convene the committee's Democrats to decide a course of action. The party, he said, can only move forward with a 'consensus.' That style stands in sharp contrast to a Democratic base that's itching for more aggressive leadership and a more visible fight with Trump — something the other candidates are clearly heeding: Garcia has tangled with the Justice Department over his criticism of Elon Musk; Crockett has broached the prospect of a Trump impeachment inquiry; and Lynch, as the panel's interim top Democrat, attempted last week to subpoena Musk during a panel hearing. The race also threatens to become a proxy fight for broader questions about age and seniority inside the Democratic Party. House Democrats ousted several aging committee leaders at the end of last Congress as they girded for a fight with the Trump administration — and many in the base were disappointed when Connolly triumphed over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. The winner is poised to lead efforts to investigate and thwart the Trump administration if Democrats can retake the House majority next year — and ride herd on a chaotic panel that in recent months has featured intense personal attacks between lawmakers and the display of nude photos. 'It's a street fight every day,' said Rep. Lateefah Simon of California when asked about the panel and what it takes to lead it. 'It's every single day being able to expose the hypocrisy of this administration and to tell the truth.' There was a time when Mfume would have been a natural choice for such a moment. First elected to Baltimore's City Council at the age of 30, he quickly butted heads with legendary Mayor William Donald Schaefer. After longtime Rep. Parren Mitchell retired, Mfume easily won the seat in 1986 and within a few years become a national figure due to his chairmanship of the CBC. Ascending to that role just as Bill Clinton was elected to the presidency, he became an important power broker, forcing key concessions in Clinton's 1993 budget and pushing the White House to restore ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. He also clashed with Clinton at times, including over his decision to pull the nomination of prominent Black legal scholar Lani Guinier to a top Justice Department post. But after Democrats lost their House majority in 1994 — and Mfume lost a quixotic bid to enter the party leadership — he decided two years later to forgo a long climb up the seniority ladder. He instead took the helm at the Baltimore-based NAACP, a job thought to better harness his skills at organizing and oratory. Former Maryland state Sen. Jill Carter said Mfume has long had the 'it factor' and 'charisma' that matters in politics. When Carter ran against Mfume in his 2020 House comeback bid, she got a reminder of how well her rival was known in the district and beyond: 'When some of my people did exit polling, they got the response, 'Oh, we love Jill but, come on, this is Kweisi.'' What's less clear is whether Mfume's reputation in Baltimore, burnished over 45 years in the public eye, makes him the man for the moment as far as his contemporary House colleagues are concerned. He's not known as a partisan brawler, and he said in the interview he doesn't intend to become one. 'There are always going to be fights and disagreements,' he said. 'It's kind of escalated in the last few years to a level that we haven't seen before. I think the main thing is to moderate and to manage the disagreements, because you're not going to cause any of them to go away. How you manage them and how they are perceived by the overall public is what makes a difference.' Mfume is leaning heavily, in fact, on the style and reputation of the man who filled the 7th District seat for the 24 years in between his House stints — the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, who served as top Democrat and then chair of Oversight during Trump's first term and is still spoken of in reverent terms inside the caucus. Mfume concedes that Cummings might have been the better communicator — he 'had a little more preacher in him than I do' — but said they share a similar lofty approach to politics. Like Cummings, he suggested prescription drug prices might be a committee priority. What Mfume is unlikely to have is the official support of the Congressional Black Caucus, a powerful force in intracaucus politics. With two members in the race — Crockett also belongs — Mfume said he does not expect a formal CBC endorsement after an interview process Wednesday. But he still expected to draw support from the bloc — especially its more senior members. Other factors complicate Mfume's candidacy. One is age: He is a year older than Connolly was when he was elected to lead Oversight Democrats last year. For those who prize seniority, Lynch has actually spent more time on the panel. And his 2004 departure from the NAACP was marred by controversy: The Baltimore Sun reported the executive committee of the group voted not to extend his contract under threat of a sexual harassment lawsuit; the NAACP later paid the woman who complained a $100,000 settlement. Mfume strenuously denied any wrongdoing, but while the episode has not emerged as a major issue in the Oversight race, some Democrats have privately expressed reservations about elevating a leader with personal baggage to potentially lead investigations of Trump. 'There's never been one person to corroborate that one allegation — not one,' Mfume said. About the payment, he said, 'I found out about it, quite frankly, after it happened.' Much of the Democratic Caucus remains undecided ahead of the June 24 secret-ballot vote. Candidates will first go before Democrats' Steering and Policy Committee, which will make a recommendation to the full caucus. 'I think that you have a situation where Mfume and Steve Lynch are getting support from folks who put seniority at top, and maybe the other two candidates would probably lean toward members who are newer, and then you got a whole host of folks that's in the middle. And I think that's where the battle is to see where they fall,' said Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.). One younger member said he was swayed by Mfume's experience. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is 48 and had weighed his own bid, said that while other candidates were compelling, the Baltimorean had a 'leg up.' 'Kweisi shows me pictures of him with Nelson Mandela,' he said. 'I was like, I'm not going to run against Nelson Mandela's best friend.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
US cities brace for more protests as parts of Los Angeles placed under curfew
By Brad Brooks, Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Dietrich Knauth LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Several U.S. cities braced for protests on Wednesday against President Donald Trump's sweeping immigration raids, as parts of the country's second largest city Los Angeles spent the night under curfew in an effort to quell five days of unrest. The Governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, said he will deploy the National Guard this week, ahead of planned protests. Protesters and police in Austin clashed on Monday. Trump's extraordinary measures of sending National Guard and Marines to quell protests in Los Angeles has sparked a national debate on the use of military on U.S. soil and pitted the Republican president against California's Democrat governor. "This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers and even our National Guard at risk. That's when the downward spiral began," California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a video address on Tuesday. "He again chose escalation. He chose more force. He chose theatrics over public safety. ... Democracy is under assault." Newsom, widely seen as preparing for a presidential run in 2028, and the state of California sued Trump and the Defense Department on Monday, seeking to block the deployment of federal troops. Trump in turn has suggested Newsom should be arrested. Hundreds of U.S. Marines arrived in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday under orders from Trump, after he also ordered the deployment of 4,000 National Guard to the city. Marines and National Guard are to be used in the protection of government personnel and buildings and not in police action. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the deployments were not necessary as police could manage the protest, the majority of which have been peaceful, and limited to about five streets. However, due to looting and violence at night she imposed a curfew over one square mile of the city's downtown, starting Tuesday night. The curfew will last several days. Police said multiple groups stayed on the streets in some areas despite the curfew and "mass arrests" were initiated. Police earlier said that 197 people had already been arrested on Tuesday - more than double the total number of arrests to date. Democratic leaders have raised concerns over a national crisis in what has become the most intense flashpoint yet in the Trump administration's efforts to deport migrants living in the country illegally, and then crack down on opponents who take to the streets in protest. Trump, voted back into office last year largely for his promise to deport undocumented immigrants, used a speech honoring soldiers on Tuesday to defend his decision. He told troops at the army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina: "Generations of army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness." 'FULL-BLOWN ASSAULT' "What you're witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags," Trump said, adding his administration would "liberate Los Angeles." Demonstrators have waved the flags of Mexico and other countries in solidarity for the migrants rounded up in a series of intensifying raids. Homeland Security said on Monday its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division had arrested 2,000 immigration offenders per day recently, far above the 311 daily average in fiscal year 2024 under former President Joe Biden. Protests have also taken place in other cities including New York, Atlanta and Chicago, where demonstrators shouted at and scuffled with officers. Some protesters climbed onto the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza, while others chanted that ICE should be abolished. Texas Governor Abbott said late on Tuesday that he will deploy the National Guard, which "will use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order." "Texas National Guard will be deployed to locations across the state to ensure peace & order. Peaceful protest is legal. Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest," Abbott posted on X. South Texas organizations are expected to hold anti-ICE rallies on Wednesday and Saturday, CNN reported local media as saying. About 700 Marines were in a staging area in the Seal Beach area about 30 miles (50 km) south of Los Angeles on Tuesday, awaiting deployment to specific locations, a U.S. official said. California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Reuters the state was concerned about allowing federal troops to protect personnel, saying there was a risk that could violate an 1878 law that generally forbids the U.S. military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement. "Protecting personnel likely means accompanying ICE agents into communities and neighborhoods, and protecting functions could mean protecting the ICE function of enforcing the immigration law," Bonta said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday posted photos on X of National Guard troops accompanying ICE officers on an immigration raid. Trump administration officials have vowed to redouble the immigration raids in response to the street protests. The last time the military was used for direct police action under the Insurrection Act was in 1992, when the California governor at the time asked President George H.W. Bush to help respond to Los Angeles riots over the acquittal of police officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King.
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Hey, Democrats: LA riots make Americans like me glad Trump is president
Hey, Democrats: LA riots make Americans like me glad Trump is president | Opinion For many Americans, the protests in Los Angeles look like lawlessness. They also are a reminder of why we didn't want Joe Biden or Kamala Harris for another four years. Show Caption Hide Caption See how Los Angeles protests intensified over one weekend What started as a small protest over immigration raids on Friday ballooned into large demonstrations throughout the weekend. Here's what happened. As I've witnessed photos and videos of the burning cars, masked rioters wielding Mexican flags, blocked freeways and looted stores in Los Angeles in recent days, my conclusion is this: I'm glad Donald Trump is president. And I'm not alone. Voters in November chose Trump in large part to address the surge in illegal immigration that former President Joe Biden allowed to happen for years, letting millions of people flood our borders. Trump has followed through on his campaign promises to close the border and to deport many of these immigrants who've flouted the law. By doing their job, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents purportedly have sparked the mayhem and violence in LA, and which is now spreading to other parts of the country. California Democrats like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom are wringing their hands that Trump has deployed the National Guard and now the Marines to help quell the violence, even though state and local leaders certainly don't have the situation under control. Rather than call out the bad behavior, Democrats and the news media appear to condone the rioting – and downplay what's actually happening. It's an odd strategy, and one that shows why Democrats continue to struggle to connect with average Americans. Opinion: Can you be legally punished for misgendering someone? Colorado says yes. | Opinion Sen. John Fetterman calls out his own party. I give him credit for that. One Democrat at least gets it. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is once again standing up to the craziness within his party and calling it like he sees it. On X, Fetterman posted a photo of a rioter with a Mexican flag standing on a destroyed car surrounded by flames. It looks like a scene out of Gaza – not the United States. I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration—but this is not that. This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement. — U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) June 10, 2025 Fetterman wrote this: 'I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration − but this is not that. This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.' Fetterman is absolutely correct. For years, Democrats have obsessed over the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after Trump lost the 2020 election. Yet, Democrats make themselves look like hypocrites when they are OK with violence that fits with their anti-Trump policy objectives. Opinion: Democrats waste $20 million to learn why they lost men. Here's my free advice. 'Overwhelmingly peaceful' protests? Give me a break, Kamala Harris. Consider some of the responses to the rioting from high-profile Democrats and media figures: ∎ 'The vast majority of protesters and demonstrators are peaceful,' California Sen. Alex Padilla said on MSNBC. 'They're passionate.' ∎ New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker blamed Trump for what's happening. 'A lot of these peaceful protests are being generated because the president of the United States is sowing chaos,' Booker said on 'Meet the Press.' ∎ Former Vice President Kamala Harris and 2024 presidential candidate posted a statement that called the spectacle 'overwhelmingly peaceful' and criticized Trump for 'ICE raids' that are part of the administration's 'cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division.' Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. ∎ Not to be left out, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote the following on X: 'California Governor Newsom didn't request the National Guard be deployed to his state following peaceful demonstrations. Trump sent them anyway. … Trump's goal isn't to keep Californians safe. His goal is to cause chaos, because chaos is good for Trump.' ∎ Brian Stelter, CNN chief media analyst, shared this quote on X from The American Prospect, a progressive magazine: 'These protests, which have been abbreviated in the media as 'unrest,' were actually a cry of hope, and a reminder of the human need for community, the need to turn to each other to find something to believe in.' You get the idea. Burning vehicles and throwing rocks is somehow peaceful. Attempting to stop the violence and enforce the law is somehow instigating it. But to me, and millions of other Americans watching what's happening in LA, the protests look like lawlessness. They're also a great reminder of why we didn't want Biden (or Harris) for another four years. Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@ or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques
