Frequently Asked Questions:

Right now, people excluded from credits have no state-sponsored incentive or opportunity to change the behaviors that led to their conviction.  It is as if Illinois doesn’t believe people can change.  Restoring the ability to earn sentencing credits, by contrast, gives hope and purpose to those striving to transform their lives while incarcerated. 

The purpose translates into safety.  Research shows that when incarcerated people participate in treatment and programming, the result is improved safety for incarcerated people and staff, as well as for members of the community when people are released.

Right now, Illinois unnecessarily keeps half of its population from this incentive, leaving out the very people who society believes most need to change their behavior – people convicted of violent offenses.  We are shortchanging ourselves by this exclusion; research and lived experience shows that most people convicted of violent offenses can and do change and contribute to their communities upon release. We need to allow them to do this. 

Including people convicted of violent offenses doesn’t shortchange safety.  Everyone given sentence credit under Credit for Change must demonstrate good behavior and take part in rehabilitative activities.  Many, including people convicted of violent offenses, would have already served decades and are elderly – research shows that people in general age out of criminal behavior.  Research further shows that people returning home for violent offenses have the same or lower recidivism rates than all people released from state prison.

For too long, we have told crime survivors that a long sentence will help them heal. But we haven’t listened: many crime survivors want the pain and exposure of sharing their story to result in changed behavior from the person who hurt them. A long sentence won’t do that – a person has to be actively involved in changing their behavior from the beginning. Credit For Change promotes this change, which will make the person less likely to harm others.

Yes.  Illinois’s sentencing laws ignore a basic tool to incentivize change, and are behind other states that use this tool.  Eighteen states, including red states like West Virginia and Wyoming and our neighbor Indiana, allow people convicted of violent offenses to earn a greater percentage of time off of their sentences for good behavior than Illinois does. It’s time for Illinois to reset and become a leader among states by emphasizing accountability AND rehabilitation.

Yes.  Implementing Credit for Change, which would restore day for day good time for everyone, would save the state close to $1 billion over three years, according to Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council (SPAC)’s estimates for a prior version of the bill. In this time of reduced federal spending, Illinois taxpayers deserve smarter state spending that prioritizes rehabilitation and invests in things that build safe and healthy communities, such as housing and education.

Yes! Credit for Change is a retroactive bill, which means that it would apply to everyone who is currently serving a prison sentence except for people serving a life sentence. Illinois’ legislature has the authority to pass retroactive laws and has done so in the past.

For more information on retroactive laws, check out this legal memo!

Illinois successfully decarcerated during the Covid-19 pandemic with no increase to our statewide recidivism rate. Since that success, we have expanded reentry support through additional R3 reentry grants, the creation of and funding for the office of the Director of Reentry for the City of Chicago, and the creation of and funding for the first state level Director of Reentry position.