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* What follows are excerpts from a Tribune op-ed by Cook County Circuit Clerk Iris Martinez along with excerpts of a rebuttal I requested from the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice…
• Cook County Circuit Clerk Iris Martinez: In the first 50 weeks of the PFA, out of 90,872 cases, defendants missed court 67,416 times. This includes defendants charged with violent felonies.
• Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice: The Circuit Clerk also claims “defendants missed court 67,416 times” in “the first 50 weeks” after the law changed, but she does not indicate any source for these numbers, define what she considered to be “missing court,” or clarify how many of these cases were already pending when the law changed and thus were initiated under the money bond system. In contrast, the Cook County Circuit Court’s September 28, 2024 Pretrial Fairness Act Weekly Dashboard (encompassing three additional weeks of data) indicates only 65,298 criminal cases have been filed since the law went into effect. The transparently absurd claim that more court dates have been missed than cases have been filed raises serious concerns that Martinez’s numbers have fundamental and incurable flaws.
• Martinez: There are currently 31,393 active warrants for arrest in Cook County; they include cases before the PFA.
• Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice: First, because the Circuit Clerk refuses to provide data to either reporters or other court stakeholders, it is unclear what universe of cases she is considering or what she is labeling as a “failure to appear.” As the Chief Judge’s initial letter in response points out, the circuit clerk “did not provide clear parameters,” making it nearly impossible to understand—much less dispute—her claims.
For example, Martinez points to 31,393 felony cases that have open warrants, but the vast majority of these warrants predate the Pretrial Fairness Act and were issued under the money bond system. This is not an analysis of behavior under the Pretrial Fairness Act but instead an attempt to wrongly assign blame for tens of thousands of warrants issued under the money bond system to the Pretrial Fairness Act by obscuring when those warrants were issued.
There’s more, so click here for the full Martinez op-ed and click here for the full Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice response.
* Also, the Sun-Times ran a story on this topic last month. Excerpt…
But in response to questions on Wednesday, Martinez declined to discuss her office’s methodology or explain how it reached some of the figures cited in the letter. For example, the total number of cases during the period Martinez cited was 30,000 higher than those released by Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ office.
A spokesperson for the clerk’s office acknowledged its analysis included all active warrants in Cook County in its calculations, including warrants filed years before cash bail was abolished.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 10, 24 @ 10:31 am
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It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious: “including warrants filed years before cash bail was abolished”
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Thursday, Oct 10, 24 @ 10:41 am
Wow hard to believe the Cook County Democratic party supported her opponent.
Comment by DS Thursday, Oct 10, 24 @ 10:44 am
The main job of a circuit clerk is to keep records and share the data in those records. But this person refuses to share? I must be missing something.
Comment by Lurker Thursday, Oct 10, 24 @ 10:59 am
How many of those active warrants are for people who are dead, people who are incarcerated, people who were never apprehended in the first place, people who haven’t been in contact with law enforcement for decades, people charged with misdemeanor cases, or people who were issued multiple warrants for multiple different cases that were pending at the same time?
Comment by Allergic to Bull**** Thursday, Oct 10, 24 @ 11:06 am
Pretty clear why the voters fired her. Maybe the Trib should not be running op-eds from folks lacking in credibility. Vallas and Willie Wilson are bad enough.
Comment by Big Dipper Thursday, Oct 10, 24 @ 11:15 am
don’t believe her numbers. don’t believe their numbers. clearly there needs to be a better and more accessible system of learning about court cases. and agreement between the Clerk of the Court and the judges side about how things are counted. it’s always murky because cases don’t come in and go out in one calendar year. but numbers of people who don’t show up, that’s a number that should not only be correct, but produced more frequently. and also go get the people who don’t show up
Comment by Amalia Thursday, Oct 10, 24 @ 11:26 am
“… mandatory, statewide data collection and public reporting in the Act … .”
From underfunded offices run by elected officials? Good luck with that. Remember the consolidation of child support activities into the SDU under Ryan?
Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Oct 10, 24 @ 11:41 am
I’m surprised the Cook County Circuit Court’s office even has a data collection system. The Dorothy Brown admin never did.
Comment by Politix Thursday, Oct 10, 24 @ 12:54 pm
You obviously all missed her call for an independent review of the most consequential criminal justice law ever passed in Illinois
So many are just happy to regurgitate the Cook County Democrats spin about how violent crime is not a major problem
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 10, 24 @ 1:16 pm