* The Illinois Policy Institute commissioned a pretty darned comprehensive poll of registered Illinois voters by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates on criminal justice reform. Whatever else you may think of that group, it’s done yeoman’s work on this topic.

Press release…

A new poll commissioned by the nonpartisan Illinois Policy Institute found that Illinoisans view the state’s criminal-justice system as unfair and ineffective, and citizens strongly support reforms.

The poll surveyed 500 registered voters in Illinois on a variety of criminal-justice policies, ranging from mandatory minimum sentences to re-entry reform. Democrats, Republicans and Independents in Illinois overwhelmingly support not only changes to the state’s current system but also candidates who support reforms. The data are broken down by opinions, political affiliation, gender, race and age.

“Despite widespread political polarization, Illinois voters are in agreement on at least one thing: the need for bold criminal-justice reform,” said Bryant Jackson-Green, criminal-justice analyst at the Illinois Policy Institute. “This report shows majorities of liberals, moderates and conservatives have voiced support for major reforms such as reducing Illinois’ prison population, ending money bail, and removing barriers keeping former offenders out of work. Policymakers should heed this support and continue down the path toward reform.”

* The results…

A majority of respondents, 56 percent, feel that the Illinois criminal-justice system is unfair. There is something of a partisan divide here: 65 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of Independents see the system as unfair, while only 42 percent of Republicans feel the same way.

Next, pollsters asked if voters think the Illinois criminal-justice system is at least doing a good job of keeping communities safe. Bipartisan majorities don’t think it is: 58 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Independents do not believe the Illinois criminal-justice system, as it stands now, is doing a good job at keeping communities safe. […]

• A plurality of poll respondents (39%) think nonviolent crime sentences are too long, though 18% think they’re too short and 23% think they are just right.

• Democrats (+34) and men (+28) polled most strongly for saying sentences are too long.

• A plurality of Republicans (32%) think the sentences are just right.

But that doesn’t mean Republicans are opposed to reform or that politicians can’t be seen as tough on crime while supporting reform. On the contrary, over 80 percent of respondents in all parties think politicians can support criminal-justice reforms “such as community supervision, mandatory drug testing and treatment programs – instead of prison – that reduce the likelihood the offender would commit a new crime.” […]

• Nearly three-quarters of poll respondents believe prisons should primarily be used for violent offenders.

• This sentiment is weakest among Republicans, but they still agree by a 63%-35% margin. […]

More than 4 in 5 respondents support reforming laws to reduce the number of nonviolent offenders in prison. Democrats are most likely to favor this reform at 92 percent, but Republicans are also largely in favor by a 75-22 percent margin. […]

Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed that “people arrested for drug use should be offered drug treatment instead of being sent to prison.” […]

Eighty-two percent of respondents – including 87 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of Republicans and 83 percent of Independents – agree and want drug users to be offered treatment instead of being sent to prison. […]

• Poll respondents back increasing the felony theft threshold by a 50-point margin.

Pollsters asked whether respondents agreed with the following statement: “Judges should be able to sentence an offender based on their particular offense, their criminal history and risk for reoffending, instead of having to sentence based on mandatory minimums.”

Respondents were overwhelmingly in favor of this idea [88 percent to 11 percent]. […]

Pollsters asked: Illinois’ Crime Reduction Act created Adult Redeploy, which allows counties to create local treatment programs like drug courts that nonviolent offenders can go to instead of prison. These programs cost about $4,400 a year per participant, compared to $22,000 a year for prison. Do you favor or oppose the proposal to expand the Crime Reduction Act so that all probationable offenses, such as DUIs, are also eligible for these evidence-based treatment programs?

Eighty-six percent of respondents – including 92 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of Republicans and 83 percent of Independents – support allowing all probationable offenders to participate in ARI-funded programs. […]

• A majority of poll respondents (53%) said a candidate’s support for reforms to lower the number of nonviolent offenders in Illinois’ prisons makes them more likely to vote for that candidate.

• Only 9% of respondents said they would be less likely to support such a candidate, with the remainder saying it would have no impact on their votes. […]

“Illinois has at least 118 business and occupational licenses that by law either must or may be denied to people with criminal records. This includes, for example, occupations such as barber and real estate agent. Once someone has successfully completed their prison sentence and parole, do you think they should be denied these licenses, or should they be granted these licenses if they’re otherwise qualified?”

Most poll respondents think ex-offenders should be eligible for occupational licenses

• There is significant support for the granting of licenses to qualified, former parolees at
76%-15%. […]

Plurality of poll respondents more likely to vote for candidates who support removing barriers to occupational licensing

• A plurality of respondents (46%) said a candidate’s support for granting occupational licenses to those who have completed sentences/parole makes respondents more likely to support that candidate [13 percent less likely, 23 percent no impact or don’t know]. […]

• There is solid support for sealing nonviolent criminal records, with at least 2 in 3 poll respondents from the major groups backing the proposal [70-25]. […]

• Respondents were more likely to back a candidate who supports a law allowing limits on who can view criminal records of nonviolent offenders by a 40%-16% margin, with another 43% saying it would have no impact on their vote or they don’t know whether it would. […]

Pollsters asked respondents whether they would “favor or oppose a … law in Illinois that would protect a company from being sued for hiring employees with criminal records when their offense isn’t directly related to the job they’re hired for.”

• Eighty percent of respondents, including 82 percent of Democrats, 78 percent of Republicans and 79 percent of Independents, would support this reform.

Pollsters also asked whether support for this reform would make the respondents more likely to vote for a candidate, and 46 percent said they would be more likely to vote for someone who supported reforming negligent-hiring liability laws.rt for protecting employers from legal liability if they hire ex-offenders. […]

89 percent of registered voters opposed property seizures without a conviction. This includes 93 percent of Democrats, 86 percent of Re- publicans and 89 percent of Independents.

Additionally, most respondents – 54 percent – would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports reforming these laws. Twenty-eight percent would be “much more” likely to vote for a re- former on this issue. […]

“Currently, Illinois courts use a bail system for the release of an accused defendant from custody be- fore trial. Instead of bail, there is a proposal to have judges use a risk assessment to decide whether to hold the accused before trial. Under such a system, a court would decide whether to hold an al- leged offender before trial based on a defendant’s criminal history, age, the nature of the offense and other risk factors unrelated to their ability to pay for bail. Do you favor or oppose this change from a bail system to a risk-assessment system for deciding whether to release an accused defendant from custody before trial?”

A majority expressed openness to the change.

• Poll respondents supported switching from a bail system to a risk-assessment system by a 63%-28% margin.

• A majority of Republicans support the switch, but their backing is at a much lower margin (+19) than Democrats (+44) or Independents (+41).

Sixty-three percent of voters would favor a risk-assessment rather than money-bail system. Of course, the details of such a reform vary. What this would look like is a critical question that de- serves further debate and research.

* Methodology…

The poll has a margin of error for N=500 [registered voters] of +/-4.38 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. Interviews were stratified into proportionate geographic units based on the population of registered voters. Sixty-one percent of voters were surveyed via landline. Thirty-nine percent of voters were surveyed via cell phone.

…Adding… Verbatim poll questions are here.