Crime & Law
Cook County’s Top Prosecutor, New Chief Judge Seek Improvements to Electronic Monitoring System
Leighton Criminal Court Building (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
Weeks after a Chicago man who’d been released on electronic monitoring allegedly lit a CTA Blue Line passenger on fire, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said she wants to review ways to “make that system work.”
Speaking at the City Club of Chicago on Tuesday to mark her first year as the county’s top prosecutor, O’Neill Burke said her office will be looking into possible improvements to the electronic monitoring system.
“This is gonna be something that we’re looking into and talking about and seeing ways that we can make that system work,” she said.
O’Neill Burke’s comments come days after Lawrence Reed — a man with a lengthy criminal record who had been released this year on electronic monitoring following his arrest on aggravated battery charges — allegedly doused a Blue Line passenger in gasoline and lit her on fire at random.
The victim survived, but was critically injured and Reed now faces a federal terrorism charge. But the case has launched a renewed conversation over electronic monitoring and the statewide elimination of cash bail in 2023.
O’Neill Burke previously called the attack “a tragedy” and said in a social media post that CTA safety is “essential for Chicago to thrive.” On her first day in office last year, she instituted a new policy requiring that prosecutors in her office seek pre-trial detention in all cases involving violent offenses that occur on public transit.
“It’s almost like a ‘split the baby’ kind of thing,’” she said Tuesday. “If we’re asking for detention, judges will say, ‘Well I don’t want to detain him, but I’m not gonna just release him. I’ll put him on electronic monitoring.’ And that’s a false equivalency. It makes people feel safe and they are not safe.”
Earlier this year, the office of the Cook County Chief Judge took over management of pretrial electronic monitoring after the Cook County Sheriff’s Office ended its decades-old program.
Under outgoing Chief Judge Tim Evans, the office launched a review into Reed’s previous case and release in order to “to ensure procedures were followed and to identify opportunities for improvement.”
Judge Charles Beach was sworn in to replace Evans on Monday, and on Tuesday, Beach launched a new committee dedicated to “urgently review” and strengthen the ways alleged violations are communicated, evaluated and acted upon. The committee — comprised of court operations, pretrial services, law enforcement partners and other stakeholders — is expected to deliver “actionable” findings and recommendations by the end of next month.
“The safety of the public and the integrity of our court processes remain our highest priorities,” Beach said in a statement. “We are committed to a transparent, evidence-based review that enhances accountability, improves coordination and reinforces the public’s trust in our justice system.”
