(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday said she’s talking with Cook County leaders about the dozens of accused killers allowed to stay home, on electronic monitoring, while awaiting trial.
More than 90 people of the hundreds of people on electronic home detention in Cook County are facing murder charges. Many of them have a history of violent behavior, the mayor said.
These suspects are a danger to the community, in more ways than one, she said.
“There has to be some consequences for those individuals, not only in terms of pretrial detention,” Lightfoot said. “When they’re cycling through the system and back on the street 24, 48 hours later, what does that say to the victims? What does that say to the witnesses?
“Are you going to come forward and risk your life?”
The mayor stressed that the Cook County Jail should not be used a debtor’s prison, where the poor cannot get out on bond. But she said pretrial decisions must take the community’s safety into account; she planned to speak with Cook County's top judge and the State's Attorney.
Her comments were echoed Monday by Chicago Police Supt. David Brown, who outlined his department’s efforts to confiscate illegal guns and deal with violent crime.
Brown said he takes issue with judges – not the State’s Attorney’s Office – over the number of people released to electronic monitoring. That includes some 569 people currently charged with unlawful use of a weapon, he said.
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