12.13.07 Cook County criminal courts overwhelmed, report says. Leaders say budget, staff cuts are biggest problem
By Michael Higgins
December 13, 2007
Huge numbers of nonviolent drug offenders and mentally ill defendants have overwhelmed Cook County's criminal justice system, requiring new infusions of government spending to address the problem, a criminal justice advocacy group said in a report made public today.
Criminal court judges must grapple with excessive caseloads of more than 800 new cases annually, while public defenders can't turn down work no matter how busy they may be, the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice said in the report.
"A system operating beyond capacity and without the tools it needs for rehabilitation and treatment has a profoundly devastating effect on our community, businesses and families, while destroying lives in the process," Malcolm Rich, executive director of the group's Criminal Justice Project, said in a statement. The group spent two years studying the county's criminal courts and its main building at 26th Street and California Avenue. It conducted more than 100 interviews and watched 160 hours of court proceedings.
The county's top criminal justice leaders - Presiding Criminal Court Judge Paul Biebel, State's Atty. Richard Devine and Public Defender Edwin Burnette - cooperated in the effort and provided data.
At a public forum Thursday at Chicago-Kent College of Law, the three leaders discussed the report's findings - and the budget shortfalls that make many of the suggestions tough to pull off.
Devine and Burnette pointed to the County Board's proposed 10 percent cuts - on top of other cuts in recent years - as the major hurdle to fixing the system. They expressed frustration at county and state governments that haven't been willing to invest adequate resources in criminal justice.
"If we are forced to make 10 percent cuts on top of the 143 positions we lost last year, we are talking about 150 prosecutors, three quarters of the prosecutors who work at 26th," Devine said. "We get clearly beyond strain. We are getting to meltdown."
Burnette said his office is "stretched beyond capacity" and that the cuts would amount to a 36 to 40 percent personnel loss in four years. He said that, in general, there isn't a recommendation that he doesn't agree with. There just isn't the funding, he said.
"It is frustrating when you see your personnel diminishing every year," Burnette said. "You are asking people to do double and triple duty. How long can they keep doing this?"
The report argues for more staffing to reduce caseloads, improved treatment for drug offenders and more programs specifically geared toward mentally ill defendants.
It also recommends that legislators be required to estimate the cost of any new crime legislation and that a new, independent commission help the Cook County Board make criminal justice budgeting decisions.
"It is our hope that these recommendations serve as a model for bringing about real change in a system that is long overdue," Rich said.
Many of the report's recommendations would require new spending at a time when both the county and state are struggling with budget problems. The report argues for more funds for adult probation, four new drug courts and expanded mental health courts.
Other suggestions, such as improving how court personnel treat the public, won't require more funds, said Daniel Coyne, a defense attorney and Chicago-Kent law professor who worked on the report.
He argued that other recommendations, such as using drug treatment programs to steer more offenders out of the system, are designed to save money in the long run.
"If I invest a dollar today to avoid spending two dollars tomorrow, it's a net gain," Coyne said.