In an editorial published on Friday, the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board clamored for more pretrial incarceration by highlighting the number of people currently on Sheriff’s electronic monitoring (EM) who are facing felony charges. In the editorial, the board insinuated, without evidence, that people on EM pose a danger to the community and should be jailed. While the Tribune placed great emphasis on the charges people were facing, they buried the fact that the vast majority of people released pretrial are not rearrested while awaiting trial. Moreover, they ignored the evidence that there has been no meaningful increase in people being rearrested and charged with new “violent” offenses while awaiting trial since General Order 18.8A led to a decrease in pretrial incarceration in Cook County in 2017. 

Even though there is no data to back up the idea that people awaiting trial are endangering community safety—and, in fact, data shows the opposite—the Chicago Police Department, the Mayor’s Office, and traditional news media continue to irresponsibly peddle this narrative. The University of Chicago’s Crime Lab documented no correlation between people on house arrest with electronic monitoring and rising crime. The study found that between July 2019 and August 2020, people rearrested for a felony gun charge while on electronic monitoring made up less than 1% of Chicago felony gun arrests. 

By continuing to advance this baseless claim from police, the Chicago Tribune’s Editorial Board minimizes just how severely house arrest with electronic monitoring restricts a person’s pretrial liberty. The restrictions people on electronic monitoring in Cook County face make it nearly impossible for them to do the things needed to survive in our society; they face extreme hurdles to simply go grocery shopping, access medical or mental health care, attend job interviews, or do the most basic tasks to take care of their families. Preventing people from performing these essential tasks destabilizes their and their families’ lives and makes our communities less safe. Electronic monitoring is not an alternative to incarceration; it is an alternative form of incarceration. 

The more than 3,500 people currently on Cook County Sheriff’s house arrest with electronic monitoring are under 24 hour digital surveillance. Minor alleged violations of their pretrial release conditions can result in return to jail and even new felony charges. The Chicago Tribune’s Editorial Board has knowingly misrepresented the level of surveillance people incarcerated in their homes on EM are experiencing by equating this form of pretrial punishment with pretrial freedom. In doing so, they undermine movements for decarceration and racial justice. On Friday, May 21, 2021, 74% of people on Sheriff’s EM were Black and another 18% were Latinx; just 7% of people on EM were white. In broadly calling for the pretrial jailing of a category of people who is 93% people of color and overwhelmingly Black, the Editorial Board has again attempted to sabotage the calls to make Black Lives Matter in Cook County. 

Nationally, Cook County is an outlier in its overuse of pretrial electronic monitoring. There are currently nearly nine times as many people on pretrial electronic monitoring in Cook County as there are in the entire state of New Jersey, which has dramatically reduced its use of pretrial incarceration without an increase in missed court dates or rearrests. New Jersey is evidence that pretrial incarceration can be safely decreased without ordering many more people on electronic monitoring, as Cook County has done since 2020. In fact, Cook County itself is evidence of this; from 2017-2019, use of EM decreased at the same time the number of people in jail decreased with no increase in rearrest rates.

Furthermore, each and every person on Sheriff’s EM is still awaiting trial and constitutionally presumed innocent of the charges against them. Just because someone is charged with a serious crime, doesn’t mean they are guilty or will be convicted. More than one-third of people charged with murder in Cook County are eventually found not guilty or have the charges against them dismissed. Our criminal legal system should never assume that people awaiting trial are dangerous—or even guilty of the allegations against them—solely because of the charges against them. 

In February, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the Pretrial Fairness Act into the law. Among the transformative changes included in the legislation are reforms to electronic monitoring. Beginning July 1st of this year, people on electronic monitoring will now be guaranteed movement to perform essential tasks, receive regular reconsideration of their order to EM, and be protected from spurious charges of felony “escape” for minor violations or errors caused by faulty technology. These changes will dramatically improve the lives of people subjected to pretrial monitoring. And, by ensuring better conditions for people on EM and reducing the burdens on families and entire communities, they also make our communities safer.

Racist fearmongering should never be the foundation for shaping public policy—that is the recipe that built mass incarceration and invested millions of dollars into law enforcement while simultaneously divesting from communities. Decades of fear-based policy decisions rooted in anti-Black racism continue to have devastating consequences. Nationally, the number of people incarcerated pretrial has nearly quadrupled since the 1980s, and our communities are all less safe as a result. We must not give in to these outdated scare tactics. Instead, we must protect pretrial reforms that lessen the burden on targeted communities, maintain stability, and increase safety. Over the last several years, impacted communities and advocates have made significant strides towards expanding pretrial freedom in Illinois, and the road behind us shows that those changes are working. We can not turn back now.