(The Center Square) – Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts co-executive director Naomi Johnson said she is concerned with Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke instructing prosecutors to object in all cases where electronic monitoring is proposed for pre-trial release of a criminal defendant despite the state having sought detention.
“I’m definitely concerned about this policy,” Johnson told The Center Square. “I think that each case deserves thorough, individualized review and that is the purpose, or one of the key purposes of the Pre-trial Fairness Act, and this sort of blanket policy put in place doesn’t allow for that. Requiring attorneys to object to every decision when detention was requested could irritate judges and make it difficult for a judge to distinguish an actual public safety issue from a routine objection.”
In implementing the new policy, Burke argues she no longer has confidence the Chief Cook County judge can effectively oversee the program, and as a result public safety could suffer…