(SPRINGFIELD) Governor Bruce Rauner last Friday granted six (6) and denied thirty-three (33) clemency petitions, which will allow the petitioner to seek expungement of their conviction through the State of Illinois court system. It was the twenty-fourth (24) set of petitions that the Governor has reviewed since taking office in early 2015. Each person granted clemency has recently undergone a criminal background check through the Illinois State Police’s Law Enforcement Agencies Data System.
(CHICAGO) The Illinois Attorney General’s Office is working with state lawmakers to draft legislation that would require hospitals around the state to have a specially trained medical provider available to examine a sexual assault victim. The Chicago Tribune reports that of nearly 200,000 registered nurses in Illinois, only 32 are certified by the International Association of Forensic Nurses to work with adult sexual assault patients. Only a dozen (12) of the special nurse examiners are certified to treat children. Although the legislation would not require hospitals to implement the change by 2023, the Illinois Health & Hospital Association says that it would be impossible to train so many nurses by then. Statistics show nearly 4,500 patients sought treatment in emergency rooms for alleged, suspected, or confirmed sexual assault in 2016.
(CHICAGO) The public is invited to join the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and many others for a month-long observance to share child abuse and neglect prevention awareness messages and to help promote prevention efforts across the country during Child Abuse Prevention Month in April. This year’s theme “Supporting Great Childhoods” is a call to action to help prevent child abuse and neglect by providing parents and families with support for children to thrive. Various events are scheduled for this week and the rest of the this month. For more details and information, go online at www.illinois.gov/dcfs.
