Leave it to a liberal, socialist haven like Chicago to not only raise taxes on everything from soda to gas, but to excuse criminal behavior.
Now, a Cook County judge has determined that the “justice” system should be more lenient to criminals. After all, they're the real victims here.
According to Fox 32 - Chicago:
A judge in Chicago on Monday signed an order changing the cash-bond system for one of the busiest judicial districts in the U.S. to help ensure suspects aren't held behind bars as they await trial solely because they're too poor to pay.
Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans' order applies only to suspects already found by a court not to pose a threat, requiring that judges set bail at amounts they can afford.
In his argument, Evans believes in the motto “innocent until proven guilty,” but this is taking it a little too far.
The other question is, who determines what exactly makes a person a “threat to society?” What is a threat to someone might not be a threat to others.
“Defendants should not be sitting in jail awaiting trial simply because they lack the financial resources to secure their release,” Evans said in his statement.
Maybe, just maybe, don’t be a defendant in the first place? Just an idea.
Overcrowding seems to be another talking point at the heart of the issue. But, on the other hand, Chicago prisons should theoretically be even more crowded, considering the constant shootings going on in the city.
There’s an old saying that everyone knows that goes, “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.” All you have to do is switch “time” and insert “money,” and you’d basically have the same principle.
The funny thing is that Chicago politicians, and apparently Cook County judges, want to preach to the rest of the populace about their responsibility to help the poor. Meanwhile, they are constantly raising taxes for everything in the city to the point that Chicago has even seen a downturn in its population.
They can hem and haw about how much they want to help the poor, but at the end of the day, they just want people to get out of jail in order to collect more taxes from more residents.
This new joke of a policy will be in effect for defendants facing felony charges on Sept. 18, while those facing misdemeanor charges will have to wait until January 1, 2018.