Bianchi wants felony diversion program for first-time offenders
By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI - jduchnowski@nwherald.com
WOODSTOCK – McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi wants to give first-time felony suspects a break if they successfully complete community service, counseling or other requirements.
The diversion program likely would target nonviolent defendants who are not gang members and are not charged with drug or alcohol crimes, Bianchi said. Participants who fail would face felony prosecution – and probation or prison – but those who succeed would see their charges dropped and not have a felony criminal record.
“It gives them an opportunity to keep a single mistake from haunting them for the rest of their lives,” Bianchi said.
Possible program requirements include abstaining from drugs or alcohol, having a full-time job, or earning a diploma, but stipulations would be tailored for each applicant. Bianchi expects that the program would be monitored by a coordinator from his office and a committee of community volunteers, who would review applications to the program and meet with participants regularly.
Police and victims also would be consulted.
Bianchi said the biggest hurdle to starting the program would be hiring a coordinator in the middle of a county budget crunch or rearranging duties of his current staff. Application fees and fines would support ongoing expenses.
Bianchi also thinks the program would lighten the burden on felony judges, because participants would have fewer court dates during the year it likely would take to complete the program. He attributes a sharp increase in the number of jury trials to his tough stance against crime.
“[The diversion program] will allow us to continue to be tough on crime and put those who deserve to be there in the penitentiary,” Bianchi said.
Defense attorney Henry Sugden attributed the increase in jury trials to inexperienced prosecutors who poorly judged the value of their evidence. But Sugden said he supported the proposed diversion program, which he said he expected would serve mostly men ages 18 to 26.
“If the person learns from their mistakes, give them a break,” Sugden said. “If not, you’ll get them again, and it will be on their record that they had a diversion.”
Defense attorney Matt Haiduk said he had a few clients who were enrolled in a similar program in Kane County. He sometimes charges clients less if they go into the diversion program, but those clients also pay a fee for the program, so it likely costs the participants as much overall as continuing with their defense.
“If [Bianchi’s program is] going to be anything like the Kane County program, it’s something I wish they’d implemented 10 years ago,” Haiduk said.
Kane County’s program requires new participants to give a statement confessing to the crime that prosecutors could use if the participants fails out of the program. That requirement led one of Haiduk’s clients who maintained his innocence to avoid the diversion program.
“People who don’t believe they’re legally responsible for the crime are locked out,” Haiduk said.
