The Cook County chief judge’s office has toughened protocols around its electronic monitoring program, making changes in the wake of high-profile incidents and as the office’s monitored population swells.
Chief Judge Charles Beach, who replaced the county’s longtime top jurist Tim Evans in December, announced on Wednesday changes around how violations of the program’s rules are handled.
Under the new procedures, “major violations” will be sent to go before a judge within 24 hours on both weekdays and weekends.
This has already been implemented on weekdays, according to a news release from the office, and will be in place on weekends starting Feb. 7.
“Efforts have been implemented to ensure that major violations are promptly identified and communicated to the assigned judge, the State’s Attorney’s Office and defense counsel,” the release said.
The office has also shortened the amount of time in which an absence will be considered a major violation to three hours.
Previously, such a violation was considered to be an unauthorized absence of 48 hours.
The courts are currently reviewing the volume of more than three-hour absences on weekends to determine whether additional resources are needed.
Judges will have discretion on whether to issue a warrant in the event of the absence.
The county’s electronic monitoring program has long been a lightning rod for controversy whenever offenses are committed by suspects on electronic monitoring, as officials, advocates and community members debate the best ways to use electronic monitoring and how effective it is.
In November, while being monitored, Lawrence Reed was accused of setting a 26-year-old woman on fire on the CTA Blue Line, triggering an outcry that reached the White House, where President Donald Trump’s administration seized on CTA crime to criticize Chicago officials.
Cook County Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez had denied prosecutors’ petition to have Reed held in jail pending trial for an aggravated battery case, instead ordering him released on electronic monitoring with regular check-ins with a probation officer.
Following the attack, the chief judge’s office put out a statement that said it was reviewing the actions in the Reed case. It noted that its Pretrial Services Division receives 8,500 alerts each week and reports major violations to the court and prosecutors within 72 hours.
In a statement, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office welcomed the changes and said it “looks forward to continuing to collaborate with Chief Judge Beach and all those seeking ways to improve public safety.”
State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has previously said that electronic monitoring does not keep the public safe.
“We are going to ask for detention if somebody presents a danger,” Burke previously told the Tribune. “If they are not a danger, we don’t ask for detention and I don’t care if they are monitored or not.”
In a statement to the Tribune, Public Defender Sharone Mitchell Jr. said the changes “allow for continued judicial discretion and are an acknowledgment that the vast majority of people who are placed on electronic monitoring are showing up to court and resolving their cases without being accused of committing new offenses.”
The public defender’s office said most people on electronic monitoring do not commit new crimes, pointing to studies by the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the University of Chicago Crime Lab.
In a statement, Chicago Appleseed, which observes and evaluates court function in Cook County, said the new procedures would likely increase the number of people incarcerated for alleged violations, but the organization expressed encouragement that the matters would still be assessed by a judge.
“Shrinking the threshold for what’s considered a ‘major violation’ so significantly will inevitably increase the number of alleged violations brought into court—and, unfortunately, the number of people incarcerated for those alleged violations,” the statement said.
The chief judge’s office began absorbing all Cook County electronic monitoring defendants last year after Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced his office would no longer accept defendants.
Before that, electronic monitoring defendants were split more evenly between the two agencies. In December of 2024, there were roughly 1,500 people on the Cook County sheriff’s office’s electronic monitoring program and another approximately 1,900 people on the separate electronic monitoring programs operated under the court system.
Evans fought the move to shift the burden to his office, citing a lack of resources among other concerns.
Almost a year into the process of sundowning the sheriff’s program, more than 2,300 people were on the court’s electronic monitoring program as of early January, according to court data.
As of Wednesday, the sheriff’s office currently monitors only around 400 people as it winds down its program.
