Eileen O'Neill Burke takes office, immediately tackles pre-trial detention rules
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New State's Attorney Eileen O'Neil Burke on the campaign trail this year. Photo: Monica Eng/Axios
New Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke wasted no time putting her stamp on the prosecutor's office.
The big picture: O'Neill Burke was sworn in as the county's top prosecutor Monday morning, and she quickly modified her predecessor's practices on pre-trial detention for certain crimes.
Context: The SAFE-T Act went into effect last year, requiring prosecutors to petition the court if they want to detain individuals charged with a crime. O'Neill Burke's policy will mandate county prosecutors to ask the court for pre-trial detention for all murder charges, violent felonies including:
- Any case where an offender used or possessed a firearm equipped with an extended magazine, automatic switch or used a ghost gun.
- Any domestic violence-related offense where a person used or possessed a weapon.
- Felonies committed on public transportation.
- All sex offenses where the victim was under the age of 13 and the offender was an adult.
- All cases involving child pornography.
What they're saying: "Weapons of war, violence against the vulnerable, and rampant harm to our communities will not be tolerated," O'Neill Burke said in a statement.
- "The SAFE-T Act is a seminal piece of legislation that instills more fairness into our system while also requiring that prosecutors use every tool at their disposal to give victims a voice and keep Cook County safe."
Reality check: This change isn't a reversal of former State's Attorney Kim Foxx's policies, but instead creates a new framework for prosecutors to ask for pre-trial detention. O'Neill Burke says the mandated policy will "protect victims by empowering prosecutors under the law."
Yes, but: The Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice (INPJ), an advocacy group in support of the law, counters by saying Foxx's office was successfully using pre-trial detention without a mandatory policy.
- "We would caution the state's attorney against establishing blanket policies that do not allow for individual decisionmaking and evaluation of each specific case," INPJ campaign coordinator Matthew McLoughlin tells Axios.
- "Over the last decade, Cook County has made great strides in reducing pretrial incarceration without seeing an increase in rearrests or missed court dates while overall rates of violence and crime have trended downward."
Zoom in: Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling is throwing his support behind this change. "State's Attorney Burke's plan to crack down on offenders who use these dangerous weapons on our streets will help keep people safer in every neighborhood."
- During Foxx's tenure, CPD brass and city leaders clashed over what crimes were being prosecuted.
Zoom out: The police are also seeing gains in reducing gun violence. According to the police, Saturday had no reported shootings, a rare occasion that has only happened a handful of times since 2019.
- November had 34 murders, down 35% from last year, while 2024 has seen 9% fewer murders since the previous year.