On March 8, 2019, Menelik Jackson was standing in front of Cook County Judge Joseph Claps to address a probation violation.
After pleading guilty to attempted burglary seven months earlier, Jackson was forced to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and follow a curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. However, prosecutors told Judge Joseph Claps that Jackson breached those requirements by allowing his monitoring system’s batteries to run out.
Rather than punish Jackson for breaking his probation, Claps effectively rewarded him by eliminating the electronic monitoring requirement entirely. There was no punishment—only reward…