I am a criminal defense attorney writing in response to a letter that appeared in Voice of the People on May 25. The writer, Patrick J. Halperin, Ph.D., a Chicago police officer, complained about the 100-year sentence imposed upon an individual convicted of murder for killing a police officer. Dr. Halperin expressed his opinion that the sentence was too lenient. He further stated that the defendant would serve 15 to 20 years in prison and would be released when he was 40 years old.
The purpose of my letter is not to express my views as to the propriety of the sentence handed down in this particular case. Rather, I am writing to set the record straight, for the information of Dr. Halperin and the readers of the Tribune.
As the law currently stands in the State of Illinois, an individual sentenced to prison serves half his sentence if he obeys the rules and regulations of the Illinois Department of Corrections. If he violates significant rules of behavior, he may have to serve more than half, and perhaps all, of his sentence. Therefore, contrary to the writer’s thought that the defendant will only serve 15 to 20 years of his 100-year sentence, the fact is that he will actually serve at least 50 years, give or take a few months.
