Sophie Sherry’s article on suspects of domestic and sexual abuse was insightful (“Bail reform can protect victims of domestic, sexual violence, activists say”).
Yet, like other mandates within the Pretrial Fairness Act, it will be difficult to monitor defendants, counsel victims and keep the abused apprised of defendant releases. Advocates of the law have not addressed the administrative nightmares that will be imposed on court officers and law enforcement personnel in general.
The law mandates multiple new duties and actions from the criminal courts. Cook County has one of the largest unified criminal court systems in the world. The difficult burdens fall on prosecutors to demonstrate a defendant accused of domestic abuse should be detained.
As Sherry writes, a hearing must take place. Yet it has been widely reported the Cook County state’s attorney’s office is already understaffed. Anyone who maintains prosecutors will have time for additional hearings and time to counsel domestic abuse victims and prosecute other criminal offenses is either uninformed or is being disingenuous.
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