Executive Report

Illinois' newest amendment: no bail for serious offenses

ILLINOIS' NEWEST amendment to the state Constitution gives judges the power to deny pretrial bail to persons accused of crimes for which the sentence is life imprisonment. The amendment, approved November 2 and effective immediately, adds a line to Section 9 of Article 1, which deals with bail. With the change, the section says, "All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses and offenses for which a sentence of life imprisonment may be imposed as a consequence of conviction. . . ."

Seen as a way to reduce the number of violent crimes committed by persons released on bail, the amendment was approved by an overwhelming 85 percent (1,389,796 votes) of those who voted on it in November. Only the second amendment to the 1970 Constitution, it easily met the 60 percent constitutional requirement for passage. Not even the popular cutback amendment, passed in 1980 by a 68.7 percent margin, came close.

Sponsored in the Senate by Philip Rock (D-8, Oak Park), the amendment was the product of a two-year study by the Illinois Bar Association. It easily passed the House and Senate last spring. Only one representative voted against it; no senators did.

The amendment expands judges' power to deny bail, which was previously limited to cases involving the death penalty. The rationale for denying bail is that persons facing life in prison, or the death penalty, have a higher probability of not showing up for the trial.

A few groups, including the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Chicago Bar Association, oppose the amendment. They say that denying bail on the supposition that a person might commit another crime erodes the presumption of being innocent until proven guilty. There is also some confusion about the wording of the amendment. Proponents say judges may deny bail; opponents say they must deny bail.

Only time will tell if the new amendment will provide additional protection to citizens while still upholding the rights of the accused, as its backers say; or if it is as unnecessary measure which will be ineffective in curbing crime, as its opponents suggest.           Nora Newman Jurgem

IHC grants go to projects around the state

GRANTS from the Illinois Humanities Council were awarded for 14 projects throughout the state, which include $15,225 to support a summer exhibit at Chicago's Adler Planetarium: "Star Gods of the Ancient Americans," assembled and curated by the Museum of the American Indian, New York City, surveys astronomies and cosmologies of five Native American cultures.

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Awards totaling $130,000 were announced in February by the council, which is affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities. Other programs awarded grants include:

• The Open Lands Project, $18,915: The first survey of historic and contemporary landscape photography of the Midwest to be exhibited around the state.
• Bloomington-Normal Humanities Council, $7,794: Discussion programs in Normal to increase public awareness of the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution.
• Galena Historical Museum, $12,552: Exhibit showing the changing nature of work in the Federal Lead Mine District.
• WBEZ Radio in Chicago area, $15,025: Broadcast of live weekly panel discussion in prime time on international issues.
• Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in cooperation with the Ulysses S. Grant Association, $10,796: Museum exhibit at SIU-C on Ulysses S. Grant, in war and peace, to coincide with the centennial of Grant's death.
• College of Fine Arts, Western Illinois University, Macomb, $2,590: Production of original play and performance in July at Argyle State Park, Colchester.
• College of Arts and Sciences, Western Illinois University, $6,095: 1983 Summer Humanities Hostel, June 13-17, exploring "Heritage and Hope: America and the World in the 1980s."
• The YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, west suburban area, $11,218: Seminars on "Thinking Globally on Local Issues — An International Studies Project for Women."
• The YWCA of the University of Illinois, Urbana, $10,500: Conference April 9-13 to explore similarities and differences among women of diverse cultural, political and national background.
• The Alfred Adler Institute and Lake Forest College, $2,777: Conference on "Children of the Computer Society" for parents and teachers in April.
• Centro Pan Americano of Aurora, $8,679: A series of three programs directed at the Hispanic women in northern Illinois with conferences set for Elgin, Joliet and Aurora.
• Community Film Workshop of Chicago, $5,275: "Self Portraits: Minorities in Film,'' a third annual festival of films set for four weekends in April.
• Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation, $2,615: A literary brochure of Oak Park with biographies, photographs and map.

Marie Conner

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