Eric Zorn has accurately described what happens (or what doesn’t happen) to garage burglars in Cook County, even those caught red-handed (Metro, Aug. 11).
It’s not that no one cares, it’s that the volume of serious, violent offenses has overwhelmed the system to the point that police, prosecutors, judges and prisons are forced into a “triage justice” mode just to keep up. With approximately 1,000 murders a year in the county, it is no wonder most of our resources are diverted from less threatening property crimes. One suburban judge publicly stated, “Garage burglars are simply not going to jail.”
The bar has been raised so high before criminal conduct has any consequences that if a juvenile robs a store with a gun, the offender will probably not even go to the juvenile detention center but will be sent home with a court date! Law-enforcement personnel are just as frustrated as crime victims at the apparent lack of sanctions for patently criminal behavior. We can take heart, however, from recent studies–and emerging law-enforcement policies–that more vigilant attention to minor crimes sets a tone that actually reduces more serious crime as well.
