Thread by @ScottHech

THREAD: "I recently sat w/ a young man. About pain of missing a fourth funeral bc of electronic monitoring. Not allowed to grieve w/ family. Had to sit home & mourn alone." A public defender on how e-carceration *is* incarceration. Teen Vogue keeps leading.teenvogue.com/story/electron…

The call comes in on a Friday afternoon. “Cathryn," a voice says, shaking. “This is Larquelle’s mother. Larquelle is in handcuffs."

Here is a story of electronic monitoring & how sensational crime reporting has made it worse. By Cathryn Crawford. Public defender for 25 years.

"They are saying they are taking him back to jail. That boy has not left the house without permission. It must be a mistake.”

At the time of the phone call, Larquelle, a 20-year-old I represent had been on GPS electronic monitoring for 454 days.

Larquelle — like so many others awaiting trial— was confined to his house w/ a shackle on his ankle. The shackle emits a high-pitched siren when the technical center gets an alert, often false, that he was improperly outside of his house, even just on his front stoop.

“Are they taking him away or just talking?” I ask Larquelle’s mother.

“Talking right now, but they are saying they are taking him.”

Then I hear Larquelle’s frantic voice: “Cathryn, they got the wrong person. You know I have been following all of the rules.”

Like Larquelle, many suffer daily under this harsh, constant surveillance, living in fear of getting ripped from their families & sent to jail for any minor infraction.

*E-carceration isn’t really an alternative to incarceration; it’s an alternate route to it.*

From March 2020 to March 2021, the use of electronic monitoring in Chicago's Cook County increased by 49%, with an average 3,652 people monitored daily. The racial disparities are staggering, yet unsurprising: 93% are Black or brown. Ninety-five percent are male.

Finally, about 40 minutes after that first call, I hear from Larquelle. “Okay, they're gone. But Cathryn, I can’t take this any longer. I just want to plead guilty and get this over with.” “I understand, Larquelle,” I tell him. And I did understand his situation well.

"Over past four years, I have represented countless juveniles & emerging adults from Chicago’s west side. I work to not get to the point where they are coerced into pleading guilty not because of the merits of the case or the truth, but bc of the trauma of constant surveillance."

The key (part 1): "Why increase in use & heavier burdens of e-carceration? Judges feel pressure bc the public believes what it reads: A pervasive false narrative from police printed by an unquestioning, complicit media that any so-called surge in crime is fueled by bail reform."

The key (part 2): "The public, terrified and angered by this scary prevailing narrative, demands more jail and even more oppressive surveillance. Prosecutors and judges, in turn, comply."

When police fearmonger over reform assume they're lying: "The facts of pretrial justice in Chicago make for a far less catchy headline: Rearrests for violent offenses remains the same as it was before Chicago limited the use of bail in 2017. At just 3%, it’s near nonexistent."

When police fearmonger over "violent criminals" being released from pretrial cages, assume they're lying. "People are far less likely to get rearrested for violent offenses when charged w/ crimes classified as “violent” than those charged with lower-level felonies & misdemeanors.

The truth about those arrested for guns: "Theyre not who police & prosecutors want you to believe they are. Many did not possess anything. Others are survivors of violence & felt the need to protect themselves. Almost all have witnessed & suffered excessive amounts of violence."

The irrationality & cruelty of our response to survivors of violence w/ guns: "They are further traumatized by a hostile, unfair, & systemically racist legal system, w/ players who view them as dangerous criminals whose movements need to be monitored every second of the day."

How e-carceration makes it hard to be a parent, an employee, a friend: "Prohibits people from leaving homes w/o permission. Cant check mail. Take out the garbage. Or get food if delivery person wont come to their door. Cant go to grocery store or laundromat, or get a haircut."

🚨Chicago judges prevent people on electronic monitoring from taking their children to the doctor!! "Morris, another young father I represent, accused of possessing a gun and shackled with an ankle bracelet, was recently prohibited from taking his infant son to the pediatrician."

Electronic monitoring separates families: "Many live in federally funded housing, but aren’t allowed to while on monitoring. Forced to move into a relative’s or girlfriend’s home. Hoping the stay will be temporary. Knowing it could last hundreds of days. Strains relationships."

This is just insane cruelty in Chicago: "Charles was imprisoned for violating e-monitoring for *picking up his children from his mother, who had to take another family member to the hospital.* 7 months in jail. A bad case of COVID-19. Charles gave up and accepted a plea deal."

Read back thru this thread. It's enabled by a "pattern of sensationalist reporting leading to senseless policies. Whether it's bail reform rollbacks in NY or recall campaigns on forward-thinking prosecutors in CA, moderate progress is being undone before it can even be tested."

The pattern: "Rational reasonable reforms pass. Then proponents of harsh punishment react how they always have: cherry-picking stories that generate alarm & provoke knee-jerk calls for more police, surveillance, & punishment. The media keeps helping them. Public keeps buying it."

Chicago people: "There's a glimmer of hope. Legislators recently withstood pressure by police & prosecutors, & passed the Pre-Trial Fairness Act. Among other things: before e-carceration, judges must first share in writing why they believe it is necessary for community safety."

More on Pretrial Fairness Act: Every 60 days, judges must review their decision. E-carceration may continue only if needed to avoid a specific, real threat and present danger to a person or willful flight from prosecution. The result: Fewer subjected to harsh state surveillance."

If you take one thing away from all this: "Any glimmer of hope for changes in the criminal legal system, however, will dim before they even takes effect if we continue to believe everything we read. We cant allow sensationalized headlines to prevail."teenvogue.com/story/electron…

The coda: on Larquelle. "Larquelle held out from taking the plea after the judge finally agreed to release him from e-carceration. Free of surveillance and electronic confinement, he can work, care for his 2 y/o son. Thrive. Thats the story the newspapers don’t tell you."