Upon taking office, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke implemented policy changes that are contributing to a rise in pretrial jailing. Researchers at the Loyola Chicago Center for Criminal Justice concluded that the primary driver of incarceration in Cook County Jail was changes in the rate at which prosecutors request detention in the first 6 months of 2025. 

The Number of People Jailed Decreased After Implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act, But Have Steadily Risen since State’s Attorney Burke took office.

• In the first three months of Pretrial Fairness Act implementation, there was a 14% decrease in the number of people jailed while awaiting trial.
• In the first six months of 2025, there was a 41% increase in the number of people incarcerated in Cook County Jail, that’s 1,068 more people than at the same time in 2024.

Increases in Requests for Detention Are Driving Increases in Pretrial Jailing

• In the first year without money bond, prosecutors sought detention in 30% cases where people were facing detention eligible charges. By June of 2025, that number increased to 44%.
• After Burke took office, there was a 7% increase in the number of detention requests granted by judges. This was due, in-part, to two policies she implemented: 1) requiring prosecutors to seek detention for almost all categories of gun cases, regardless of the circumstances of the purported offense and arrest and without consideration of the charged person’s social and criminal history and 2) requiring prosecutors to object to every decision to release someone on electronic monitoring if they requested detention, effectively pressuring judges to incarcerate more people in jail.

There has been no rise in crime that would explain this increase in pretrial jailing.

• In the first three months of 2025, Chicago had the fewest robberies of any quarter in decades.
• In 2023, murders in Chicago began to decline, and in April 2025 the city had the fewest murders recorded in that month since 1962.
• As of mid-June, Chicago had a 40% decrease in shootings compared to the same period in 2024.

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.

State’s Attorney Burke must 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.