The Cook County Public Defender’s Office is celebrating five bills passed by Illinois Legislature during recent the spring session that support the office’s mission of ensuring equal access to justice and protecting the constitutional rights of people who live in Cook County.
These include historic legislation to create the first statewide office for public defense, expanding due process protections for noncitizen Cook County residents and addressing delays for people held in county jails while they wait for admission at state facilities for mental health treatment.
The legislature has 30 days to send the bills to Governor J.B. Pritzker, who has 60 days to sign the bills into law.
The FAIR Act:
Before the passage of the Funded Advocacy and Independent Representation (FAIR) Act last month, Illinois was one of only five states in the country that lack a dedicated statewide body to oversee public defense.
By creating the first Office of the State Public Defender, the FAIR Act will ensure that people living in all the state’s 102 counties have access to an independent public defender who can vigorously protect their rights.
Outside of Cook County, judges previously had the right to appoint and remove chief public defenders, leading some public defenders to be fired after speaking out about insufficient resources for their clients. The FAIR Act puts that control in the hands of local stakeholders, bringing the state in alignment with national standards and providing greater transparency and oversight of public defenders’ work.
The new office will also work to evaluate and address an unfair funding gap between prosecutors and public defense offices to make sure everyone gets a robust defense.
Immigration Representation
Since 2022, the Cook County Public Defender’s Office has represented nearly 150 clients in Chicago’s immigration court.
But recent changes in federal immigration policy have made it more likely that Cook County residents who are detained will be moved out of the Chicago Immigration Court’s jurisdiction or deprived of the ability to see a judge.
House Bill 2436 expands the jurisdiction of the public defender’s office to allow its attorneys to represent noncitizen Cook County residents even if they are detained outside of the county and regardless of whether they have a pending court case.
Because immigration hearings are held virtually, the four attorneys with the public defender’s office currently working on immigration cases are not required travel inside or outside of the state.
Reducing Inpatient Fitness Waitlists in County Jails
Lawmakers also took significant steps reduce waitlists for people held in county jails while they wait to be admitted to the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Forensic Treatment Program.
Due to an inadequate number of beds at state facilities, people accused of a crime who are found by a court to be unfit to stand trial often face lengthy detention in county jails while waiting to receive the clinical treatment they need to restore them to fitness.
The bill sets standards for when someone can receive treatment at an outpatient facility and prioritizes the use of outpatient facilities when appropriate. The bill will also offer more opportunities for people facing the lowest level misdemeanor offenses access to diversion programs, ensuring these individuals don’t spending more time in confinement than fit people who are convicted of the same offenses by ensuring their maximum time in custody mirrors sentences with good time credit applied.
The bill also encourages the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts to create standards for the certification process for court-ordered fitness evaluation and the Fitness to Stand Trial Task Force to increase access, fairness and consistency statewide.
Making Traffic Fee Waivers Permanent
Lawmakers have made permanent a successful traffic fee waiver program in Cook County that allows judges to waive certain administrative court assessment fees for people who cannot afford them.
For three years, the program has allowed judges to evaluate and grant fee waiver applications of up to 50%, helping hundreds of people each year avoid debilitating debt because they lack the ability to pay.
Chasing this largely uncollectible court debt wastes county resources. Counties often spend more on trying to collect the debt than they recover. Despite minimal impact on the county, the uncollected debt can damage credit scores, which can reduce access to housing and create more instability for vulnerable households. The bill was a legislative initiative in partnership with the Illinois Fines and Fees Coalition.
Equal Court Protections for DCFS Youth
A small but important change to how youth in the custody of the state’s Department of Children and Family Services cases are handled in court will work to ensure those youth are treated equally regardless of how they came to be place in state custody.
Last year, 41 youths who were placed in DCFS care were held in detention at the Cook County Juvenile Justice Center beyond their release date. In 64 percent of the cases, young people had to wait in detention more than a month before they were properly placed.
Senate Bill 31 addressed that issue by extending changes to Juvenile Court Act in recent years to include all young people in DCFS custody, including youth placed in state care because of a delinquency petition. Judges overseeing delinquency petitions for youths will now get the same information and authority as judges overseeing youth in state care due to a child protection petition.