Clerk of Circuit Court Candidate wants to expand access to justice

Richard Boykin, Clerk of Circuit Court Candidate. Photo courtesy of Richard Boykin
Richard Boykin, Clerk of Circuit Court Candidate. Photo courtesy of Richard Boykin

Clerk of Circuit Court Candidate wants to expand access to justice

BY TIA CAROL JONES

Richard Boykin is probably best known for his opposition of the sweetened tax during is tenure as a Cook County Commissioner. Boykin is one of five candidates running for Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, to fill the position which was recently held by Dorothy Brown.

Boykin is running on a platform that includes expanding access, technology, forgiving fees and fines, and automatic expungement. Other candidates running are Democrats Iris Y. Martinez, Michael Carbonargi and Jacob Meister, as well as Republican Barbara Ruth Bellar.

Boykin was raised in Englewood and attended Chicago Vocational Career Academy. He graduated from Central State University, in Ohio, and received his law degree from the University of Dayton Law School. Boykin worked for U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun, Congressman Danny Davis and Congressman Bobby Rush throughout a 13-year period.

“I was fortunate to get elected as Cook County Commissioner in 2014, served there for one term,” he said. “I’m the guy who got rid of the sweetened beverage tax, or they call it the sugar tax. Also got rid of the tax on feminine hygiene products. And, I stood up as a voice against the unfair property tax system that so disproportionately burdens people who live in the South Suburbs, West sides and South sides of Chicago.”

Boykin said he is running for the office because it is the front door to the justice system.

“I want to make sure that front door is wide open, welcoming and free of political influence. I want to make sure we expand access to justice. But I also want to make sure the clerk’s office is answerable only to the people and not a political party,” he said. “I have a real track record of always putting people over politics every chance I get.”

Part of Boykin’s push to expand access to the justice system includes utilizing technology.

“We’re going to make sure that technology makes the court system easier to navigate for everyone. We’re also going to make sure the e-record is the official record of the court,” he said. “And, that’s going to put us on a path to a paperless court system within four years. We think it’s important, one we save the environment, two that we make things easily available for people to access.”

Boykin said he would also like to digitize documents and enable people to access public documents remotely. He said it would allow people to print documents at home or at their offices. He said he believes it would help save taxpayers money. Boykin, also thinking of the taxpayers, wants to eliminate fees and fines associated with the court.

”I said in the beginning of my campaign, I will forgive the fees and get judges to waive fines. I think these fees and fines to basically fund the court system are onerous and not right. I think it takes advantage of too many people who are African American and Latino, I think it takes advantage of the working poor,” he said. “I want to make sure we do something about reforming fees and fines, forgiving the debt is what I call it.”

Another initiative Boykin wants to introduce is automatic expungement. He said, in cases where an individual has been arrested and the State’s Attorney decides not to pursue charges or the judge dismisses the case, the clerk would move to automatically expunge the person’s record after 120 days.

Boykin said it is important because having an arrest on your record, even though the case has been dismissed and the charges dropped, can negatively impact a person’s ability to get a job, receive financial aid or apply for public or private housing.

“So we said, ‘look, we don’t need Springfield legislation to do this. The Chief Judge can do this. The Chief Judge Tim Evans, by what we call an administrative general order, saying to judges in cases where people have been arrested and charges have been dropped, or the case has been dismissed, the clerk shall affirmatively move on the behalf of that individual after 120 days, giving the State’s Attorney an opportunity to object to automatic expungement,’” he said.

Boykin said it is his mission to restore people and enable them to have more opportunities.

“These two initiatives set me apart from my opponents in that nobody is thinking outside of the box as to how we can utilize the clerk’s office to actually help restore people’s lives, to help expand restorative justice or to help give people hope again and dream again,” he said. “I think we got to restore people’s lives, we’ve got to give them hope again. I think it will also help to reduce the crime that we see in our communities. We would give people an opportunity at jobs.

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