South Cook News

Democrats recently proposed legislation aimed at tackling Illinois' spike in carjackings. State Sen. John Curran (R-Lemont) has criticized the proposals, saying they won't actually do much aside from throwing taxpayer dollars at the issue.

"The recent proposals introduced do very little to move the needle on this very serious issue," Curran posted on Facebook. "They simply just add bureaucracy and taxpayer dollars to this epidemic and do nothing to actually hold offenders accountable for their actions. If we really want to get serious on crime, we need to start having real conversations about ways to deter this kind of activity."

According to the Daily Journal, Sen. Robert Martwick (D-Chicago) is sponsoring HB 3699, which would provide more funding to law enforcement groups working to identify and arrest carjackers. "We're obviously in very deep budget negotiations and we're trying to identify funding sources for all of this," Martwick said at a news conference,.

Sen. Omar Aquino (D-Chicago) is sponsoring HB 3772, which would protect victims of carjackings from any fees imposed on the vehicle after it was stolen, such as red light camera tickets or towing fines.

Carjackings in Chicago have tripled in the last ten years, WTTW reported. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said that a common motive for carjackings is so that a criminal can use the stolen vehicle to commit another crime, such as a drive-by shooting.

There were more than 1,800 carjackings reported in Chicago in 2021, compared to 1,415 in 2020 and 603 in 2019, Axios reported. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has suggested that remote learning contributed to the increase in carjackings, but the CTU rejected her claim as "scapegoating and smear tactics."