Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Criticisms don’t add up

Posted in:

Illinois

“We’ve got to actually hold people accountable who are wreaking havoc in our streets. The fact that we have gone now 13 months and we don’t have criminal trials in Cook County” is shameful, the mayor said.

In fact, jury trials began March 22 at the Cook County courthouse at 26th and California and March 29 at the Bridgeview courthouse, court officials say. But there haven’t been many requests by defendants for jury trials this year, officials said. […]

Lightfoot also took aim at the widening practice in recent years of Cook County judges setting relatively low bails for people charged with felonies like gun crimes and having them await trial at home on electronic monitoring.

“We just charged somebody yesterday. Two brothers who murdered a person — 11 bullets into them, in front of witnesses,” Lightfoot said. “And at least one of them was out on another gun charge, on electronic monitoring. This isn’t working. We need to have trials and we need to put dangerous people behind bars so that the community is actually safe.”

Cook County’s 2017 bail reform required judges to set affordable bail for defendants they deemed could be released while awaiting trial without endangering the public. In 2019, Chief Cook County Judge Timothy Evans wrote an opinion piece in the Chicago Sun-Times in which he said, “99.8% of felony defendants released on bail don’t receive charges of new gun-related violent crime while their cases are pending.”

There’s more, so go read the rest.

* Block Club Chicago…

A proposal requiring the city to digitize and publish a database of closed complaints against police officers going back decades stalled in committee Friday over the objection of the city’s top watchdogs, who said the city is “out of runway” to earn the trust of residents on police reform.

The ordinance was sponsored by Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) in response to a lawsuit that found the city has illegally withheld documents on complaints against police officers in violation of the Freedom of Information Act.

Waguespack’s ordinance authorizes the city’s Office of the Inspector General to digitize and publish an online database of complaint reports going back to 1994, while automatically publishing some information of newly closed cases going forward.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she opposed the ordinance “as is” at an unrelated news conference Thursday, citing the “significant” expense and saying there’s already a “robust” amount of information previously made available through various lawsuits. […]

Deborah Witzburg, the deputy inspector general for Public Safety, told the joint committee on Finance and Public Safety Friday the database would require a first-year $709,500 investment and cost just less than $2 million over five years.

The city has paid out more than a half billion dollars in police misconduct settlements in the last 10 years.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 9:16 am

Comments

It is time to get back to jury trials.

Comment by Dan Johnson Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 9:18 am
FYI, the “go read the rest” link is bad.

Comment by charles in charge Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 9:25 am
== half billion dollars ==

$500,000,000.00

IMO, numerically is more revealing as to the staggering amount.

Comment by don the legend Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 9:35 am
Here we go again, scapegoating the criminal justice system. When are we going to place the blame where it belongs. Systemic racism is to blame. Allowances must be given to the accused who quite frankly are acting out of generations of oppression and the lack of true reparations.

Comment by Frumpy White Guy Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 9:39 am
don the legend

Agree - to put it into a visual - if you had a half billion 1 dollar coins and picked up one per second it would take you working 24-7 not quite 15.9 years to complete the task of picking up all the coins.

Comment by no relation Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 9:45 am
The IG’s plan and cost estimate is to put the summary report online and hope and pray no one requests the actual investigative file. The summary report is hearsay and no attorney worth anything would read a summary report and not want to read the actual evidence the report is based on. The summary report is about 10 pages while the actual file can be thousands of pages. So take anything the IG says about the costs here with a massive grain of salt.

Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 9:58 am
Narrator: Lightfoot can’t even fix the problems she could control.

There’s not a chance to pass on criticism that Lightfoot won’t ignore.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 10:08 am
“Criticisms don’t add up”

“You know the score, pal: You’re not cop, you’re little people.” — Bryant, Blade Runner (1982)

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 10:15 am
==The city has paid out more than a half billion dollars in police misconduct settlements in the last 10 years==

I would be nice if cops had to pay their own malpractice insurance, or maybe the union could be required to provide it.

Comment by Cool Papa Bell Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 10:18 am
$50 million a year that could have gone into the underfunded police pension plan instead gets paid out to victims of police misconduct. That’s real money.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 10:25 am
That 2030 census ought to be a humdinger.

Comment by Blue Dog Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 10:34 am
“99.8% of felony defendants released on bail don’t receive charges of new gun-related violent crime while their cases are pending.””

The Tribune had an investigatory piece after this opinion piece refuting the 99.8% statistic. It was a very good, detailed piece. It’s hard to take Lightfoot serious when she and others call for tougher gun laws but the CCSA continuously fail to prosecute or severely plead down the illegal gun cases that come before them. Key examples is the case cited by Lightfoot above and the 21 year old that was with Adam Toledo. The 21 year old was initially charged on 11 weapons charges 2 years ago plead down to 1 charge resulting in only probation where he continuously violated said probation. Nothing was done now has more weapons charges, child endangerment, and attempted murder and is again back on the streets. There is an abdication of duty by the so called “leaders” in this city/county which in part leads to 13 year olds and others being killed.

Comment by 1st Ward Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 11:06 am
Here’s the Tribune piece that refuted Tim Evans opinion on the county bail reform.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/investigations/ct-cook-county-bail-bond-reform-tim-evans-20200213-tkodxevlyvcp7k66q2v2ahboi4-story.html

Comment by 1st Ward Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 11:07 am
Well a community group just bonded out the guy who was with the 13 year old who was shot and killed by the police. A felon in possession of a hand gun faces a mandatory minimum 5 years in Federal prison. let the Feds step up. Personally I have no problems with more gun restrictions, but why have laws on guns that are not enforced?

Comment by DuPage Saint Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 11:16 am
===why have laws on guns that are not enforced? ===

So, you’re opposed to cash bail now?

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 11:18 am
**why have laws on guns that are not enforced?**

What law wasn’t enforced that you’re referring to in your comments?

Comment by SaulGoodman Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 11:23 am
==That 2030 census ought to be a humdinger.==

Sure because in 2011 we all saw a major pandemic sweeping in in 2020. And because murder is only a problem in Chicago.

For 57 large metros’ the murder rate is up a collective 37%.

Up 100% in Lubbock TX
Up 105% in Omaha NE
Up 95% in Milwaukee WI
Up 30% in Arlington TX
Up 76% in Fort Wayne IN
Up 40% in Nashville TN

I’m long the city of Chicago, metros are still where people are moving too. The lake is a massive resource, crime comes and goes with improve economic activity.

Comment by Cool Papa Bell Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 11:40 am
Commit a felony while using a gun. 25 years. No parole. There. I fixed your gun safety by half.

Comment by Blue Dog Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 11:41 am
Actually Rich I sorta am opposed to cash bail. Bail is not punishment and if you are not a danger or flight risk you should get out. After all you are not guilty yet my problem is unenforceable laws. Maybe it is time to reform criminal code again.

Comment by DuPage Saint Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 11:41 am
Saulgoodman. Law that was not enforced was federal law mandating 5 years in prison for a felon with a weapon. Evidently the guy with 13 year old was charged with the hat a couple of years ago and was not sent to Feds

Comment by DuPage Saint Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 11:45 am
DuPageSaint

FWIW the Tribune last summer had a deep dive on increases in Federal Felon In Possession (FIP) prosecutions increasing in 2020. Sounds like Feds are still selective about which FIP cases they’ll take though.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-justice/ct-chicago-gun-arrests-federal-20200805-lk4r5syalzbavemnvwvvmbtoly-story.html

Comment by ChicagoBars Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 12:35 pm
right now, we have no idea what is going on because it is a mess so we honestly don’t know who can do their job right. ASA gets put on administrative leave for saying something that may or may not have indicated that the kid had the gun when he was shot (actually, he had just stashed it behind the fence). and we still have no idea what is in the full report about what Foxx did on the Smollett case…release the full report.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 2:16 pm
Neither Foxx nor Lightfoot are not doing a good enough job to be so quick to point fingers.

I really liked Lightfoot during the primary debates. What a let down.

Comment by AlfondoGonz Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 2:33 pm