Peoria County State’s Attorney candidates discuss juvenile crime, running the prosecutor’s office

PEORIA ( 25News Now ) - Peoria County voters have a choice this fall of who they want as the county's chief prosecutor.

Incumbent State Attorney Jodi Hoos, a Democrat, is being challenged by Peoria lawyer Robert Boucher , who is a Republican.

Boucher grew up on the City of Peoria's south end and graduated from the University of Tennessee's College of Law. He said he started practicing law in 1981, having practiced in just about every county in Illinois.

Boucher's slogan for this election campaign is "Safe Homes, Safe Schools, Safe Streets." He said he wants to give back to the community where he grew up, starting with protecting children.

"What we have gone from is a society where we teach [children] reading, writing, and arithmetic. Just as importantly now, we have to teach them reading, writing, arithmetic, and how to duck because of an intruder coming into their schools," Boucher said.

The City of Peoria has had ten gunshot homicide victims this year. The youngest victim was eight years old, and the average is 25.

Two of Peoria County's most recent crimes included two teenagers hijacking a car and one teenager shooting at police .

To combat that, Boucher said he would look into a stricter policy regarding juvenile punishment.

"We should have a specially released court program, which basically says, look, we're going to electronically monitor you, we want you to not break any more laws, we want you to go to school, we want you to obey your parents. If, in fact, you violate the conditions of release, then we're going to take you back into custody," said Boucher.

On the same issue, Hoos said her office is bound by the law; however, the juvenile court system is outdated. She said a solution doesn't just lay in the hands of the state attorney's office, but legislation and other departments involved in law enforcement.

"If a juvenile comes across my desk, then we failed as a society because they're already at the point where they picked up a gun and they shot somebody, or they stole a car. We got to fix that on the front end, so they don't come across my desk," Hoos said.

Hoos has spent her entire career at the Peoria County Courthouse, working 20 years as a prosecutor and five years as a circuit judge. When she was 12 years old, she said her father was killed in a car accident. The case went to court, and Hoos had to testify. She said that was the first time she saw how a case can impact a family.

"That was the first time I ever stepped foot into a courthouse, but I knew outside that courthouse that I wanted to spend the rest of my career inside one," said Hoos. "I went to law school to make a difference, not to make money, and in a position like this, you have a real ability to make a difference in an entire community."

During Hoos's five years as Peoria County's State's Attorney, her office prosecuted over 100 shootings, convicted 44 murderers, and filed 2,500-gun charges.

"Society has trended upward more violent the last few years; although, this year we're trending down, so that's a positive, but one of the other things I'm proud of in this office is, when it comes to violent crime, we have zero tolerance for that," said Hoos.

Hoos said she's proud of many things she's accomplished in office. That includes modernizing technology, implementing programs like "Kiwi Goes to School," and hiring a social worker and domestic violence investigator to ease the process of the justice system for victims and witnesses. She said she'll continue to focus on those areas, such as hiring a grant writer, if elected for another four-year term.

"In law enforcement these days, there are a lot of grant opportunities out there. I can't write them all myself, I can't even find them all myself, but getting a dedicated grant writer, they can find funding opportunities to either help support our office, create new positions, or maybe get new and additional technology to help our office," said Hoos.

Boucher said he has not been a fan of Hoos's style of communication and transparency. He called her an "absentee State's Attorney."

If elected, Boucher pledged to be available to his employees, the people of Peoria County, and local police agencies. With the approval from the police chief and sheriff, Boucher would like to station felony prosecutors in both departments on select days of the week so that officers have a direct channel to his office if there are concerns.

Boucher also claims Hoos hasn't been able to retain staff.

"You have to recruit people and to recruit people, you have to be able to go out and say, look, I'm going to treat you with respect; I may not be able to pay you a ton of money, but I'm going to teach you about the practice of law, and I'm going to teach you what it means to be a good, decent, honest, kind, public servant," Boucher said.

Hoos said she built an internship program where she's regularly at different law schools, presenting to students and recruiting them to work at her office, including students from Mississippi, Alabama, Los Angeles, and Pennsylvania.

"Have people left? Sure. People have left in any industry today, but in prosecutors' offices, historically, people come and go. People come out of law school, they work for six months to a year to get experience in a courtroom, and then they leave to go make money," said Hoos.

Hoos believes Boucher's 40 years of legal background is missing prosecution and public servant experience.