Upon taking office as the Cook County State’s Attorney, Eileen O’Neill Burke has implemented several policy changes that are contributing to a rise in pretrial jailing. It is notable that there has been no rise in crime that would explain this increase in pretrial jailing.

Assistant state’s attorneys are now required to request incarceration for people facing a number of charges, regardless of the facts in any individual case or information attorneys may have about the improbability of a person’s risk of rearrest or failure to appear in court. Additionally, assistant state’s attorneys are required to object to every decision to release someone on electronic monitoring if they requested detention, effectively pressuring judges to incarcerate more people in jail.

By the Numbers

• Between December 1, 2024 and May 31, 2025, the Cook County Jail population increased by 558 people, an increase of 11%. 

• Between January and mid-May 2025, judges and prosecutors incarcerated nearly twice as many people at first appearance detention hearings as they did in the same time period in 2024 with no increase in arrests.

• The number of times the State’s Attorney’s Office requested to incarcerate people awaiting trial in the first five months of 2025 increased 70% compared to the same period the year prior.

The Consequences

• In Cook County, felony cases take between one to two years to resolve. People who are jailed while awaiting trial suffer devastating ripple effects on their housing, jobs, education, mental health, and more. These disruptions destabilize our communities and make us all less safe.

• Pretrial incarceration can make people more likely to be arrested in the future, even when they are not found guilty of the charge.

• The increase in pretrial incarceration at Cook County Jail will come at a cost to taxpayers who will be forced to pay the bill for warehousing people who could safely return to the community. Cook County’s years of experience with pretrial reform show that a majority of people awaiting trial will return to court and not be rearrested while awaiting trial.

It is essential that State’s Attorney Burke reevaluate her approach to community safety, assess cases on an individual basis and work with other court stakeholders to reduce the number of people incarcerated in Cook County Jail. Failing to do so has the potential to reverse years of progress made by Cook County stakeholders while exacerbating the harm and violence in our communities.