Column: Bail reform isn’t to blame for Chicago’s violence. And finger-pointing doesn’t help.
Column: Bail reform isn’t to blame for Chicago’s violence. And finger-pointing doesn’t help.
By
REX HUPPKE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE |
JUL 07, 2021 AT 3:47 PM
Chicago police Superintendent David Brown speaks to the press outside Advocate Christ Medical Center after a police officer and two federal agents were shot on the Far South Side on July 7, 2021. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
On the heels of a grimly violent Fourth of July weekend, with more than 100 people shot and 17 killed, the last thing Chicago needs is city officials pointing fingers.
But here we are.
Police Superintendent David Brown tried to blame the hot weekend’s convulsion of violence on the Cook County court system’s bail reform, saying too many violent offenders are being released on electronic monitoring.
“Chicago police officers are doing their job by arresting people and charging them with murder,” Brown said. “That’s doing our part. And what’s happening in the courts, it’s creating this unsafe environment for all of us.”
The police are absolutely making arrests and getting guns off the streets. And it’s important to note that five law enforcement officers have been wounded in shootings in Chicago this week, including a Chicago police officer and two agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives shot Wednesday morning on the South Side. Brown said 36 officers have been shot or shot at this year.
There’s no understating the danger these women and men put themselves in working to keep the city safe.
But it’s unfair, inaccurate and unhelpful for Brown to blame the courts for creating an unsafe environment, largely because there’s no data to back up his claim.
Bail reform was enacted because too many defendants — innocent until proven guilty, per the rules of our justice system — were stuck in jail awaiting their day in court simply because they didn’t have enough money. The cash bail system tends to keep poorer defendants locked up, regardless of the nature of their crimes.
Bail reform doesn’t mean every person charged with a crime gets out. Judges can still keep people they believe might be a threat to the community locked up.
The idea of a person charged with a violent felony being allowed out with electronic monitoring sounds scary to some. I get that. But when it comes to crime, violent or otherwise, people too often default to visceral reactions and ignore reality.
A recent study by researchers at Loyola University Chicago found that bail reform in Cook County “had no effect on new criminal activity or crime,” a finding in line with studies of crime data from other large cities.
The percentage of Cook County defendants released prior to bail reform who were charged with a new violent criminal act: 3%.
The percentage of defendants released after bail reform who were charged with a new violent criminal act: 3%.
There was no change.
Defendants’ probability of new criminal activity prior to bail reform: 17.5%.
Defendants’ probability of new criminal activity after bail reform: 17.1%.
Again, no statistically significant change.
There have absolutely been horrible crimes committed by violent offenders released on electronic monitoring. But those crimes could have happened prior to bail reform —
bail reform did not take away a judge’s ability to hold a defendant who poses a threat to the community in jail.
A statement from Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ office in response to Brown’s comment asked people to remember that bail reform “is based on the constitutional principle that people should not be punished by imprisonment before they are tried, unless they pose a significant danger to the community.”
Evans said in the statement: “Looking at individual tragic cases in isolation may contribute to the speculation that releasing individuals before trial rather than incarcerating them — whether by placing them on Electronic Monitoring (EM) or other forms of supervision — means an increase in crime. But speculation based on isolated cases is not the same as reality based on a complete picture, and research has shown that bail reform has not led to an increase in crime.”
I understand Brown’s frustration, particularly given the front-line position his officers are in each day. But a focus on the things that sound right vs. the things that are right has long hindered the real changes needed to slow Chicago’s epidemic of violence.
Following Brown’s finger-pointing, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx called out finger-pointing before pointing her own finger, writing in a tweet: “Finger-pointing instead of talking honestly about the violence plaguing our city doesn’t help bring solutions that make our communities safer. It starts with apprehending those who pull the trigger; police must make an arrest before a case reaches the courthouse door.”
As with Brown’s comment, there’s truth in part of Foxx’s tweet. But again, police are making plenty of arrests, and Foxx pointing the finger back at them isn’t helping anybody.
Completing the routine Chicago City Official Cycle of Unhelpful Responses to Violence was 9th Ward Ald. Anthony Beale calling for the National Guard to come help the city regain control of the streets. (And what happens when the soldiers leave and the violent swaths of the city remain poor, lacking in jobs and resources, and largely written off as places “you don’t go”? We all know the answer to that, alderman. Just because it sounds tough doesn’t make it helpful.)
I’ll say it for approximately the 12 millionth time: There is no one thing to blame for Chicago’s violence, nor is there one thing anyone can do that will stop the violence. To borrow from Walt Whitman, this problem is large, it contains multitudes.
People from the top to the bottom in this city need to focus on facts and work together to make a change. Anything less is a waste of time. And a waste of time in Chicago is a waste of lives.
They're not lying about brehs walking behind these types of violations. Its the criminal justice reform people wanted. Why wouldn't someone wild out if you only get a slap on the wrist?
