New U.S. Attorney Calls For Focus On Root Causes To Combat Crime

By aaroncynic in News on Dec 3, 2013 10:00PM

New U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois Zachary Fardon said that to battle crime, gangs and guns, officials will need to start making headway addressing the root causes of violence.

“We're not going to arrest our way out of the gang problem that we have in the city of Chicago,” Fardon said in his first interview after taking the post with reporters last week. According to the Sun-Times, Chicago’s top prosecutor said while he’s lost sleep over the deaths of innocents in gang violence, the city needs to look at “causes of the gang problem in Chicago...poverty, education, lack of job opportunities and sometimes failures in parenting.”

Fardon, best known for his prosecution of former Gov. George Ryan, was sworn in last month, succeeding Patrick Fitzgerald, who stepped down some 17 months ago. The Chicago Tribune reports he had words for Rahm Emanuel after the mayor recently claimed federal prosecutors have a “horrible” record in prosecuting gun crime. “I don't think that's fair, and I respectfully disagree with the mayor and I have told him as much,” Fardon said, adding he had a “perfectly cordial” conversation about the matter.

He also said that while corruption cases make headlines, at least a third of the resources of the U.S. Attorney’s office are dedicated to prosecuting violent crime and it had to balance other priorities like terrorism and political corruption. Fardon, who was careful in his words regarding Illinois’ Senators Mark Kirk and Dick Durbin and their call for the arrest of nearly 18,000 members of the Gangster Disciples earlier this year, said:

“Sen. Durbin and Sen. Kirk are absolutely entitled to say what they think the U.S. attorney should focus on. But I don't take my instructions from them. I've been in this game for 20 years, and they know that.”

Fardon said the key to combating violence and crime would be striking a balance between prosecution and prevention. "The hammer of incarceration — it has its time and its place,” said Fardon. “But you also have to be creative and open to finding ways to deter crime and prevent violent crime from happening.”