Preckwinkle, Dart: Bond Court Delays Cost Taxpayers Millions
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 31, 2013 9:50PM
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Sheriff Tom Dart are once again calling attention to what they believe is the inefficiency of Cook County’s criminal court system and the money it costs taxpayers.
Dart and Preckwinkle estimate delays in bringing cases to court and keeping prisoners they feel should be released pending trial costs Cook County taxpayers $80 million annually, most of that going toward keeping these folks behind bars. Dart has spoken out on the inefficiency of the County court system before, most recently in March when he expressed concern Cook County Jail would be at maximum capacity by summertime. Preckwinkle, who has been trying to reform the court system, centered her criticisms on the bond court and the average time an inmate spends in front of a judge there.
That average time? Twenty seconds, according to Dart.
“How in God’s name can you have a thoughtful discussion in 20 seconds? Other than finding guilt or innocence, what more significant part of the judicial process is there than a bond hearing, deciding whether someone will be in this delightful place or at home with family? What can be more significant? And you give it 20 seconds. That’s just not right.”
Some of you may have read that and said, Well, there’s a backlog of cases in the court system because of continuances and other rulings. Dart says that isn’t so.
“That’s not true,” Dart said. “It isn’t like some poor judge earning $185,000 a year is in there for 12 hours. The bond hearing calls only last a few hours. That’s where my frustration is so great. We’re not asking judges to work eight, 10 hours. They go for two hours.”
Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy Evans took exception to that and said the problem is funding the courts. “One of the major problems here is some would put a price tag on justice. That’s a huge mistake.”
Tell that to Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. Dart and Preckwinkle say her office requests inordinately high bonds for defendants. Rebecca Janowitz, special assistant for legal affairs for the Cook County Justice Advisory Council, told the Sun-Times, "We see young people with no priors arrested at 17 and given a bond of $75,000.” She did allow, however, those bonds tend to decrease in subsequent appearances. “They aren’t able to get a decent bond when they first go up, but they follow the case, and a week later they file a motion to reconsider the bond, and we’ve been getting some very good success there.”
Other factors that contribute to the morass, according to Dart and Preckwinkle, include an overtaxed public defender system that handles an average of 50 cases per day, per attorney, and differing opinions between Preckwinkle and Alvarez’s office on what constitutes a non-violent offender.
Ultimately, all this results in longer stays for inmates in Cook County Jail and more money being spent to house them. Cook County Justice Advisory Council executive director Juliana Stratton said the average prisoner stay at 26th and California has increased from 49 days in 2007 to 57 days. Preckwinkle lays the blame at the feet of the court system.
“You can look at how long it takes to dispose of a drug case. There’s no case management in the circuit court. No case management at all,” Preckwinkle said. “You don’t know how long it takes individual judges. There’s no way to hold anybody accountable.”