Cook County State’s Attorney Expands Felony Review Bypass Program Citywide
Since January, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) has been piloting a policy that limits due process rights for people accused of unlicensed gun possession.
On Friday, they announced that they will be expanding this policy from two police districts to the entire city, handing off an essential prosecutorial function to a police department known for abuses of power.
The “Felony Review Bypass Program,” renamed “Expedited Felony Review” in Friday’s statement, enables the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to bypass the CCSAO’s formal process for felony review for the most common gun possession offenses—unlawful possession of a weapon (UPW), UPW by a felon, and aggravated UPW—which together have accounted for 27% of felony cases filed in Chicago this year. This means that, unlike in most other felony cases, the CPD can now directly file felony gun possession charges without any prosecutorial review, inviting unjustified or unconstitutional arrests to proceed further in the criminal process before they are scrutinized by a legal professional. These charges could potentially lead to pretrial jailing, which has immediate and long-term effects on people’s lives.
In May, Chicago Appleseed organized a group of 38 organizations and 98 community members to speak out against the Felony Review Bypass Program pilot.
We pointed out that bypassing felony review blatantly reduces due process protections and that the policy only exacerbates Cook County’s already hypercriminalized approach to gun possession. Research shows that many Chicagoans carry a gun not with violent intentions but out of fear for their lives, and the CCSAO acknowledged in Friday’s statement that the charges included in this policy “do not involve the discharge of a weapon, or a victim.” Yet, they have still decided to expand a policy that inevitably entangles more people in the criminal legal system.
We also highlighted that the police districts selected for Burke’s pilot had disproportionately high levels of police misconduct. A FOIA request submitted to the CPD in May 2025 listed all the officers in the 7th District who filed charges through this pilot. Two of the three officers that filed the most felony charges in the 7th District have several illegal search complaints, and each has more use of force complaints than 90% of the CPD. Even if the pilot didn’t witness abuse by police, there is obvious potential for future abuse to occur, and the policy sets a dangerous precedent of offloading prosecutorial work and authority to police. As time passes and there is turnover in the CCSAO and CPD, adherence to the policy might be less monitored, allowing for increased misuse. Furthermore, data concerning the cases that have gone through the policy already is not publicly available or accessible — the public is currently relying on statistics offered in public comments by the CCSAO.
The bypassing or “expediting” felony review also increases the potential for more wrongful convictions by allowing unjustified arrests to proceed further in the criminal process before charges are formally reviewed. Chicago is already the wrongful conviction capital of the United States, famed for “testilying” and police misconduct. This risk is heightened by State’s Attorney O’Neill Burke’s rollback of “do-not-call” and disclosure lists. These lists were designed to ensure that cops with histories of dishonesty on the stand and misconduct on the job are kept from testifying in court. Without these important oversight measures, Chicago residents become more vulnerable to losing their due process and the city is exposed to more lawsuits exonerating them years later, costing taxpayers millions.
Felony review provides a critical check on the police to help avoid disrupting people’s lives in cases that should ultimately be dismissed; it being “a source of frustration for prosecutors” is not a valid reason to deny accused people due process.
If the State’s Attorney cares about listening to community members and organizations, or ensuring that felony charges are accurate and appropriate, they should end Expedited Felony Review rather than expand it citywide.