Issue Position: Keeping Families Safe

Issue Position

As a father of two, Jack Franks understands that keeping our families safe is a constant concern. Citizens must be safe in their communities. That's why Franks has voted time and again to crack down on sex offenders and increased channels of support for victims.

In 2010, Franks worked with Attorney General Lisa Madigan to pass legislation requiring all sexual assault evidence be submitted for DNA testing. After Franks' wife, Debby, showed him a Chicago Tribune article in June 2009 detailing the failure of suburban Chicago police departments to submit rape kits to crime labs for DNA testing, Franks took up this important issue. He believes that victims should not be re-victimized by the very people who are sworn to protect them.

Franks also sponsored and passed legislation in 2010 to prohibit sex offenders from public parks or park buildings, as well as from loitering within 500 feet of those locations. He also voted to make sex offender registration retroactive and to expand the definition of "sex offense." In 2009, Franks sponsored and passed legislation to extend GPS tracking requirements of convicted sex offenders for the duration of their parole in an effort to increase neighborhood safety.

Franks met with football Hall of Famer Dick Butkus in 2008 and Franks was inspired by Butkus' "I Play Clean" program. In 2009, Franks worked closely with Butkus and the Taylor Hooton Foundation to pass legislation to expand random drug testing for high school athletes in order to curb abuse of performance-enhancing substances.

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