ICYMI – State’s Attorney Burke Pens Chicago Tribune Op-Ed: The Electronic Monitoring System is Broken
CHICAGO — Today, the Chicago Tribune published an op-ed by Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen Burke calling for significant reforms to the growing use of Electronic Monitoring (EM) as a form of pretrial release.
In the piece, State’s Attorney Burke expresses support for legislative changes to strengthen safeguards around EM and to better protect public safety. A retired appellate court justice, SA Burke emphasizes the importance of preserving the core principle of the Pretrial Fairness Act — that pretrial detention should be based on dangerousness, not wealth — while raising concerns about the use of EM for individuals charged with serious violent crimes.
The entire editorial can be read HERE.
Selected excerpts:
- “If someone is dangerous, they should not be able to buy their way out of jail. At the same time, someone who is not dangerous should not be incarcerated before being found guilty simply because they cannot afford to post bond.”
- “Faced with the choice between detention and release, judges have increasingly used EM as a third option to split the difference. The problem is that electronic monitoring is not detention, and it should not be treated as an appropriate alternative when someone poses a danger to the public.”
- “...we have repeatedly seen defendants charged with violent crimes placed on EM over the State’s Attorney’s vigorous objections. ... As of August 7, 79 people charged with murder or attempt murder and 154 people charged with sex crimes, including sex crimes against children, were on electronic monitoring.”
- “With thousands of defendants and countless individualized schedules, effective oversight becomes extraordinarily difficult.”
- “Of the 2900+ defendants currently on EM, the OCJ statistics indicate that more than 327 are currently AWOL, meaning no one has any idea where they are. This is concerning in any case. But when the missing defendant is charged with a violent offense, the public’s safety is in jeopardy.”
The op-ed follows SA Burke’s public support for EM reform, including at the recent Cook County Board of Commissioners’ Mid-Year Budget Hearing and in a recent interview with ABC 7.
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