The Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender has opposed the State’s Attorney’s felony bypass policy since its inception, and we oppose any expansion.
This policy abandons prosecutors’ duty to review felony charges and simply hands that responsibility to police, who have an obvious incentive to bring charges, whether or not there is evidence to support them.
While the State’s Attorney’s Office claims this policy will free prosecutors to focus on more serious cases, the more likely outcome will be thousands of nonviolent gun possession cases that shouldn’t be filed, clogging up the courts, 30% of which end up getting thrown out.
Chicago police have a long history of misconduct connected with the types of traffic stops that usually initiate these nonviolent possession charges, including racial profiling and conducting unconstitutional searches.
A CBS news report last month highlighted the Chicago Police Department charging Black gun owners with unlawfully possessing a firearm even when they were legally allowed to. We would think this would necessitate reexamination of the felony review bypass policy—not expansion.
Coupled with the State’s Attorney’s Office’s other harmful policies, including seeking detention in almost all gun cases without considering the facts unique to each person, bypassing felony review runs a significant risk of unnecessarily involving people in the criminal legal system.
Even someone who is later proven innocent or whose case is dismissed is harmed by the arrest and filing of felony charges without proper prosecutorial oversight. Arrests, possible pretrial detention, and the burden of having to appear in court all lead to a higher likelihood of rearrest in the future and jeopardize the real building blocks of safe communities: stable employment and housing, continuous access to mental and physical healthcare, and strong family relationships.
We urge the State's Attorney’s Office to end this policy and take an active role in reviewing the quality of all gun possession cases before charges are filed.