Working hard to reduce crime
Representative Berrios is committed to fighting crime in the 39th District. She has supported several pieces of legislation in order to help her community rid itself of negative influences. Senate Bill 31, House Bill 3614, House Bill 6 and House Bill 270 are all bills that have been created to battle against crime. She believes that in order to help your community thrive you must first attend to its problematic issues.
CEASE FIRE
One crime fighting program that Rep. Berrios continues to stand up for is Cease Fire- The campaign to stop the shootings. In the Logan Square area, the homicide rate has gone down since the program has been installed. The state has provided funding to this program previously but, Governor Blagojevich decided to cut all funding for this program this year. Because this program has been proven to work, Rep Berrios continues to support it and is fighting for it to be refunded.
In 2007 Rep. Berrios passed Senate Bill 31 which is a bill that extends the amount of time that a victim has to file a complaint against their offender. The amount of time was extended from one year to two years. This legislation will expectantly give victims a longer period of time to go after their offenders.
DOG FIGHTING
She also passed into legislation House Bill 3614 which is a bill that amends the Humane care for Animals act from a class A misdemeanor to a class 4 felony for a 1st offense. This new amendment increases the penalty given to people who fight animals. This bill was created to make the consequences worse for people who do not treat animals humanly; it will hopefully be a deterrent for future dog fighting.
STALKING
House Bill 6 was also supported by Representative Berrios; it is a bill that is specific to the crime of stalking. This bill amends the criminal code of 1961 by including in the description of stalking electronic devices. For example putting an electronic device on a person or their property such as a surveillance camera is under the new law considered stalking.
REPEAT OFFENDERS
Rep. Berrios supported House Bill 270 which is also an amendment to the criminal code of 1961. This amendment asks that criminals that have been released by the Department of Corrections on parole or supervised condition, not have direct or indirect contact with street gang members. If such contact is made, that person will not only be in violation of their parole but, they will also be charged with a class A misdemeanor.
