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Month: February 2016

Gun violence in America is out of control

ON SATURDAY, it was Kalamazoo, Mich. A gunman shot six people to death. Police said he randomly selected his victims as they went about the ordinary business of a winter weekend. On Sunday, it was Hazelwood, Mo., where a gunman killed a 37-year-old mother as she rode in her car. And Yazoo City, Miss., where a 25-year-old […]

DOUBLE

Thirty-two people were shot in Chicago last weekend, the youngest among them a 3-year-old boy shot in the leg while he was outside playing tag.

Four homicides over the weekend and two more Monday morning pushed Chicago’s homicide count so far this year to 95, double the same period last year. The city has also more than doubled […]

Homicides in Chicago this year double same period last year

Four homicides over the weekend and two more Monday morning pushed Chicago’s homicide count so far this year to double the same period last year. The city has recorded at least 95 homicides since the first of the year, compared to 47 last year, according to data kept by the  Tribune. The city has also more […]

3 Year Old Shot While Playing Outside

Two men were shot to death and at least 14 other people, including a 3-year-old boy, have been wounded since Saturday afternoon in separate shootings across the city, according to Chicago police officials. Houses on the 5600 block of South Wolcott in Chicago where a young child was shot in the leg on Saturday, Feb. […]

Representative Ammons hosts “Solutions to Gun Violence” Town Hall

CHAMPAIGN — Providing information to police, increasing background checks for gun owners and dealers and doing a better job of securing guns in homes and vehicles were among the solutions suggested to curb gun violence at a town-hall meeting Monday. More than 110 people gathered at the University YMCA on Monday night meeting to talk […]

NRA Will Be Playing Defense in 2016’s Tightest Congressional Races

It’s yet to attract the attention of Hillary Clinton’s ad buys, much less Jeb Bush’s tweet. But issues of gun violence and gun rights look poised to drive another storyline during the 2016 election cycle: An unusually high number of the National Rifle Association’s allies in Congress face stiff reelection fights this year. Across both […]

Easy access to guns helped me commit murder. I’ve changed, but the loopholes remain

Compelling article from a convicted murderer who used  gun obtained by straw purchase. Read the entire story here at The Quartz. On Sundays, I attend Protestant services at Attica Correctional Facility in New York. It’s my safe place. There’s a band, a choir, clapping, and hands-in-the-air yelling—“Thank you Jesus!” “Hallelujah!” Most prisoners are black with green […]

Declare State of Emergency Over Gun Violence

Cook County Commissioner Urges Governor to Declare State of Emergency Over Gun Violence The request comes days after the Chicago Police Department released startling crime statistics for the first month of 2016 … During the news conference, Boykin explained that he had three requests. He asked for neighborhood stabilization teams which would utilize agencies including […]

Illegal Guns and Chicago Crime Numbers

Mitchell: Time to make some noise about Chicago crime Read full story here at the Chicago Sun-Times The homicide figures for January were staggering: 51 murders and 292 gunshot victims. “It is totally unacceptable the violence that we saw, but we do know that the majority of the violence that we saw was gang related […]

53

We have some good news this week. Facebook is banning private, person-to-person sales of guns. The social network with 1.6 billion monthly visitors had become one of the world’s largest marketplaces for guns – a marketplace that did not require background checks. This announcement is a positive step toward stopping illegal online gun sales. Our […]

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Rick Ryan

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As the Lake County State’s Attorney, I am honored and humbled every day to lead the fight against crime, and to strive to ensure equal and just treatment under the law. I have been an attorney for twenty-two years – and each of those years has made me a stronger and smarter advocate for people, for ideas, and for the principles that unite us all.

I am so proud to lead an office of 140 dedicated colleagues who serve the public by prosecuting crime, advocating for victims, and planning crime prevention programs. I am also proud to work with hundreds of Lake County police officers on a daily basis to connect with every community and to develop comprehensive, holistic plans to respond to the mental health and economic crisis that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic.

On one particular day, July 4, 2022, I was saddened, inspired, and motivated by the bravery of so many people. We will always stand with the victims and honor the police and other first responders who ran toward the danger. Just as so many heroes that day thought only of themselves, I also witnessed the prosecutors in my office answer the call to serve survivors and their community – even on one of its darkest days.

Every moment that I have been your legal representative, I have worked tirelessly to oversee prosecutions and to implement policies that make my family and my neighbors safer in the short term and in the long term. That is the job of the State’s Attorney: to prosecute, to innovate, and to strategically plan.

I was raised in a small town. My parents are teachers, and from them, I learned that everyone must be treated equally and that America’s sacred mission is to provide a political, economic, and legal system that allows anyone to prosper regardless of the circumstances of their birth. After graduating from Knox College and the University of Chicago Law School, I spent two years at a first-rate civil law firm in Chicago where I learned that hard work and attention to detail on every case mean the difference between success and failure.

With my wonderful wife Stephanie, I am raising my two sons, Sam and Teddy, in Lake County. Nothing is more important to me than my family’s safety and I bring that passion and determination to protect all families with me to work every day.

I joined the Lake County Public Defender’s Office in 2003 and started my own law firm in 2009. From 2003 until 2020, I watched the Lake County legal system fail to prioritize violent crime, prevent wrongful prosecutions, or address racial disparities.

So, in 2019, I decided to run for State’s Attorney so that I could serve our community by improving a local legal system that cared more about covering up its mistakes and biases than uncovering new and innovative ways to help people.

I won the 2020 election, and became the first Democrat to hold this position in 40 years. Bringing in a new party wasn’t as important as ending 40 years of one mindset that had forgotten the people and that had failed to act urgently to develop new strategic plans to prevent crime while also ensuring that each prosecution is smart, moral, and just.

We have followed through on our promises. We have built the first-ever violent crimes unit, increased prosecutors in our domestic violence division, and vastly upgraded our cyber lab. Now, we have top-notch software and personnel to finally keep up with those who would exploit others.

We have been awarded a large federal grant to bring the first ever Human Trafficking Task Force to Lake County. We have deepened our investment in people by bringing in more victim specialists and raising the salaries of many of our prosecutors.

But the work goes on. We must expand our prevention efforts that are starting with the Gun Violence Prevention Initiative launched in 2022. And we know that the opioid crisis touches thousands of lives throughout this country.

I am proud to serve on the Executive Board of the Lake County Opioid Initiative which has been working tirelessly since its founding in 2012 to reverse a devastating trend of increased overdoses. In 2022, our office was part of a national settlement against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

As an attorney of 22 years, I have committed my life to helping people, and I have conducted over 70 jury trials in Lake County, and handled appeals that have culminated in over 20 oral arguments before the appellate court and Supreme Court of Illinois.

I see my time in this office as the next phase of helping a community that I love and where I have chosen to raise my family. In my first term, we have made Lake County safer and fairer through just prosecutions, constitutional policing, and innovative crime prevention policies.