Chicago Police Supt. Brown continues to blame courts after another violent weekend
CHICAGO - Chicago's top cop is zeroing in on the courts after another violent weekend left at least 12 dead and dozens of others hurt.
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown is not mincing words. He is adamant that part of the violence problem in Chicago is the fact that the violent offenders are being released on electronic monitoring.
"Violent offenders need more top consequences in our courts," Brown said.
This past weekend, 70 people were shot, 12 of them fatally. The superintendent says they recovered 104 weapons this weekend alone and nearly 6,900 for the year.
Chicago police officers are doing their part, he says, but the courts are not doing theirs.
Brown is pointing to the fact that 90 people have been charged with murder and released on electronic monitoring. The chief judge has said in the past that those cases are all first-time offenders or were in self-defense.
"My question to you is, ask what the courts can do different, rather than release people back to these communities to create an environment of lawlessness. Can the courts hold people in jail who are violent, who have been arrested, who have been charged with murder," Brown said. "Murder. I don't think there is another city in this country releasing people who have been charged with murder back into the community on electronic monitoring."
FOX 32 Chicago has reached out to the chief judge's office. They responded with a press release from earlier this month.
In part, it reads: "Judges are guided by looking at the criminal backgrounds of defendants before them. Only those individuals judged to pose a clear and present danger to society are kept in jail before trial."