Representative Justin Slaughter Contact information

Justin Quincy Slaughter, born on April 24, 1980, is an American politician and retired college basketball player. He has been serving as a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 27th district, which consists of portions of Chicago and neighboring communities.

Slaughter was born and raised in Washington Heights on Chicago’s South Side. He attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a college preparatory school. He then went on to attend the University of Chicago, where he played college basketball as a guard on the Maroons from 1998 to 2002. He graduated with a degree in political science in 2002 and later received a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Northwestern University.

Before holding elected office, Slaughter served as director of programs at the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. He was also an aide to Kwame Raoul during his time in the state senate. On January 3, 2017, Monique D. Davis announced she would decline to serve in the 100th General Assembly to which she was elected from the 27th district in the November 2016 general election. On January 5, 2017, the Democratic Representative Committee of the 27th Representative District appointed Justin Slaughter to fill the vacancy created by Davis’s resignation.

In office, Slaughter has been a supporter of criminal justice reform reforms. In his first year in office, Slaughter sponsored ultimately successful legislation that provided inmates with “training to develop skills for computers, public speaking and general business.” Slaughter was one of the lead sponsors of the SAFE-T Act (Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act), which became state law in 2021. The legislation creates new standards for decertifying police officers who engage in misconduct, and limits the use of cash bail for nonviolent offenders.

In January 2024, it was reported that Slaughter had “introduced legislation that would prohibit police officers across Illinois from stopping motorists for a host of violations, including expired plates, tinted windows, improper lane usage, and even speeding up to 25 mph over the posted limit.”