Illinois attorney general Kwame Raoul is targeting rising smash-and-grab retail crimes in Chicago with new statewide legislation.
To combat these thefts, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association unveiled a draft bill on Monday that would create a new criminal charge - organized retail crime - and make it easier for prosecutors to investigate and enforce it.
The legislation, dubbed the Organized Retail Crime Act, would target the biggest offenders - those stealing for profit, not engaging in petty shoplifting."It seeks to close the loopholes and outdated provisions in current law that criminals exploit to frustrate and invade law enforcement and prosecution. It addresses not only the means they are applying to steal but the means of monetizing.
The proposed bill would make it harder for criminals to run from their crimes by allowing county state's attorneys to charge suspects with the whole theft ring, instead of just the part that happened within their respective county. It also allows the attorney general to charge those involved in organized retail crime through a statewide grand jury."This type of crime doesn't restrict itself to a municipality, to a county. It crosses across jurisdictions.
Many criminals coordinate to sell many items of high value, and the funds are often used to fund drug trafficking and human trafficking, Raoul said.
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