With the start of the new year, I'm proud to say that we're finally starting to see the impact of the legislation I worked so hard to get through in 2023.
Bills protecting our marginalized communities and incarcerated have all become effective starting January 1, 2024.
As an activist, I was always looking for ways to break up the cycle of mass incarceration while keeping our communities safe. As a legislator, I've been able to enact real change on both of those issues. Here are just a few instances of life-changing policy below ⬇️
1️⃣ We banned assault weapons. The Supreme Court upheld our Protect Illinois Communities Act, a bill that took semi-automatic weapons off the streets, preventing future mass shootings in Illinois that occur almost daily in the United States.
2️⃣ We helped incarcerated victims of gender-based violence by closing loopholes and expanding protections in Illinois domestic violence laws.
3️⃣ We eliminated cash bail! The Illinois Supreme Court upheld our Pre-Trial Fairness Act, my bill to make sure our community is no longer a "pay-to-play" system and ensure that we focus on violence and threat to community.
Public safety is an ongoing issue in our community – but we've come leaps and bounds from where we were just 5 years ago, when I became Senator.
Now I'm up for reelection, and I'm asking for your grassroots support to continue bringing social justice to Illinois.
Senator Robert Peters was born in 1985 deaf and with a massive speech impediment. His biological mother was addicted to drugs and alcohol, and his adopted mother and father were a social worker and a civil rights lawyer. He saw first hand the impact and devastation of the racist war on drugs.
As he grew up, he admired the work his father did as a civil rights and criminal defense attorney, challenging wrongdoing by the police. This combined with the effect of the criminalization of addiction, inspired his work on criminal justice reform rooted in the safety, freedom, and wellness of all people.
A defining moment for Peters was the Great Recession, as he struggled to find work and lost his parents within a year and a half of each other. He found his power through political organizing in solidarity with a variety of organizations in Chicago fighting for justice.
As a state senator, Peters has championed the end of cash bail in Illinois after years of organizing around it before becoming a Senator. This legislative session alone, Peters has passed six bills out of the Senate, as he continues to push Illinois forward as a leader in criminal justice reform and true public safety for all. He chairs the Labor Committee in the Senate and is Chair of the Senate Black Caucus. He is focused on environmental justice, racial justice, economic freedom, and public safety for all.
Prefer to donate by mail? Please address a check to:
Peters for Illinois
PO Box 15118
Chicago, IL 60615-5139
