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Stakeholder Trip and Continuing Meetings on Bond Court Reform

Last week, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a release describing the recent two-day trip, arranged by the Illinois Supreme Court, for the heads of the relevant Cook County agencies to review and glean the benefits of Washington D.C.’s and Montgomery County, Maryland’s pretrial systems.

This trip follows the Supreme Court’s March analysis of the pretrial system in Cook County which included over 40 recommendations. Following the trip, the stakeholders met with Chief Justice Garman, Ret. Chief Justice Ben Miller, and Ret. U.S. District Court Judge David Coar to prioritize the 40 recommendations and agree upon monthly meetings to collaborate and check in on progress.

We commend both the Cook County stakeholders and the Illinois Supreme Court for arranging the trip, for the thorough analysis of our current system, and – perhaps most of all – for creating a continuing body aimed at addressing these needed reforms. Such a continuing – and ideally permanent — body is something we here at Chicago Appleseed have advocated for again and again.

A key feature of Washington D.C. and Montgomery County’s pretrial systems is their movement away from using cash bonds and toward relying on a comprehensive risk screening instrument administered by a well-trained staff. This has resulted in a far greater portion of individuals being released on their own personal recognizance. This system is unlike Cook County’s which, as we’ve discussed on this blog before, relies on financial bonds far more than other jurisdictions, resulting in more individuals in jail for being unable to post bond.

The Unintended Effects of Electronic Monitoring 

As the stakeholders continue their work on this issue, we would like to issue a warning regarding some of the attempts at reform that have already been made. The expanded use of electronic monitoring that has taken place over the course of the last year has helped bring down the jail population, but is having a slew of unintended consequences. Many people are now being convicted of Class 3 Felony Escape charges simply for moving outside of the allotted area of their electronic monitoring – all the while they were awaiting trial for lesser charges, many of which may have been ultimately dropped or dismissed. In these cases simple I-bonds (personal recognizance) with or without some level of pretrial services conditions would have served the taxpayers, the individuals, and the community a lot better.

Recommendations

These unintended consequences underscore the need for any reforms to be evidence-based and planned. Amongst the many recommendations the Supreme Court made in its March analysis, we stress the need that any pre-trial risk assessment tool that Cook County adopt be validated, and that pretrial service officers are trained to make recommendations for diversion programs as well as specific recommendations as to bond amounts and release conditions. Lastly, and most of all, we recommend that there continue to be further public reports and a permanent commission of these individuals working on these reforms.

Again, we commend the stakeholders and the Illinois Supreme Court for taking these bold and promising steps.