Dozens of people and organizations on Friday sent a letter to Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke opposing a pilot program that allows Chicago police officers to bypass prosecutors and directly file charges in some low-level felony gun cases, arguing the initiative “removes critical oversight from the charging process.”
The 136 signers of the letter, which include the ACLU of Illinois, Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, as well as Chicago Police district councilors, professors and academics and other individuals, ask Burke to halt the policy and reinstate felony review for all gun cases.
“It undermines fundamental principles of equal justice and due process, erodes public trust, and poses serious risks to communities who are already overpoliced,” the letter said, arguing the pilot program disproportionately impacts Black neighborhoods.
In Cook County, local police submit many felony cases to assistant state’s attorneys who decide whether to approve charges. The office’s Felony Review Unit is nearly unique, with few other similar models nationwide, though not all felony charges go through that process. Most felony narcotics cases are directly filed by police.
Matt McGrath, spokesman for the state’s attorney’s office, said in a statement that all 54 cases that have gone before a judge or grand jury have “withstood scrutiny and advanced.” Another 12 cases are still pending. The office plans to continuing expanding the program, he said.
“The felony review bypass program is a collaborative effort between the State’s Attorney’s office and CPD designed to get police officers back on the beat sooner while allowing prosecutors to focus time and resources on violent and victim-centric crimes,” McGrath said. “It’s important to note felony review bypass is not prosecutorial review bypass, and the pilot is working due to extensive training of district personnel by CCSAO felony review supervisors and clearly defined evidence requirements, among other factors.”
The state’s attorney’s office launched the pilot program in January in the department’s Englewood District on the South Side and later expanded to the Far South Side’s Calumet District while the office reviews data with an eye on continuing to grow the program. Officials have said the effort frees up police and prosecutors for higher level work by allowing police to directly file charges in matters where felony review prosecutors were already approving charges in around 90% of cases and generally handling them by phone.
Still, the move was criticized by Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell Jr. and some aldermen and community members, who pointed out that the stakes can be high for an individual if police get charges wrong, as people can be detained until the case goes before a judge. But the program got a nod of support from Mayor Brandon Johnson who told WTTW last month that the effort would “give us an opportunity to see if we can expedite the process that one, solves crime, but it doesn’t impede officers from returning back to the people.”
Friday’s letter marked an effort to push back on a larger scale, and it argued that prosecutors, rather than police, have the legal training to assess the legitimacy of criminal charges. It contended that the districts chosen for the pilot program are majority Black and have a history of abuse at the hands of police, including torture and excessive force.
Among other objections, the letter also said the move was made without community input and could put a strain on court resources.
“Lack of independent review at this stage increases the risk of unconstitutional arrests being taken to court and shaky legal cases proceeding to prosecution, and it undermines accountability and trust within the legal system,” the letter said.