|
“I'm definitely concerned about this policy,” Johnson told The
Center Square. “I think that each case deserves thorough,
individualized review and that is the purpose, or one of the key
purposes of the Pre-trial Fairness Act, and this sort of blanket
policy put in place doesn't allow for that. Requiring attorneys
to object to every decision when detention was requested could
irritate judges and make it difficult for a judge to distinguish
an actual public safety issue from a routine objection.”
In implementing the new policy, Burke argues she no longer has
confidence the Chief Cook County judge can effectively oversee
the program, and as a result public safety could suffer.
But Johnson argues O’Neill’s actions raise more questions than
they provide answers.
“There's no evidence to suggest that there should be any
concerns with this program,” she said. “In fact, it's been shown
to be a very well-managed program, a successfully managed
pretrial electronic monitoring program. I think what this shows
about Eileen O'Neill Burke's approach to prosecution is that
we're seeing a punitive model of prosecution and a return to a
win-at-all-cost model of prosecution, which is really deeply
concerning because what I want to see as an advocate and what
the Pretrial Fairness Act is meant to do is to give every single
person an individualized review, a fair review.”
With the electronic monitoring program now overseen by the
probation department, O’Neill Burke also contends that staffers
are not adequately trained to monitor all the individuals now
placed under their care, especially with Pretrial Fairness Act
eliminating cash bail, which makes even more defendants eligible
for the monitoring services.
Johnson counters by arguing overall violent crime is down across
much of the city, and since Pretrial Fairness was implemented
more than 80% of the individuals enrolled in the program are
regularly showing up for court appearances.
“We are court watching, so we are going to be observing how
these changes are carried out in person with people who are
actually going through the system,” Johnson said. “We're also
going to be working with stakeholders to protect these pretrial
decisions and make sure that they're as fair as possible. We'll
definitely be working with our coalition partners to make sure
that we advocate for the best and fairest outcomes for people
going through the system.”
|
|
