Public officials have known for awhile that electronic home monitoring, EM as it's called, is a flimsy safeguard.
chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/…
1) In a Tribune interview in February, Chief Judge Timothy Evans acknowledged for the first time that electronic monitoring program is flawed.
“I’ll surprise you; I’ll shock you,” he said. “I do not believe the public is as secure using electronic monitoring as I’d like to see.”
2) The Tribune earlier this year identified 1,264 felony defendants who allegedly committed new crimes while released pretrial on electronic monitoring in 2018 and the first five months of 2019.
chicagotribune.com/investigations…
3) At least four were charged with murder while out on bond, and at least two others were charged with attempted murder. Hundreds were charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery or other gun and drug crimes.
4) And what communities suffered the most? Sorted by ZIP code, the defendants who were charged with new crimes while on electronic monitoring were clustered in communities already struggling with violence, a Tribune analysis found.
5) And, as the Tribune reported last month, when a pretrial defendant cuts off his ankle bracelet and escapes from home confinement, there is little consequence.
chicagotribune.com/investigations…
6) Defendants who destroy their ankle bracelet or simply take off can be charged with felony escape.
The Tribune found that State's Attorney Kim Foxx drops escape charges at a far higher rate then her predecessor, Anita Alvarez, did.
7) During Alvarez’s last three years in office, she dropped a total of 55 such cases, compared with 429 for Foxx.
Foxx couldn't explain why she pursued far fewer escape cases. “We don’t have an official policy on escape and so I don’t have an answer for you..."
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