I blame the guns. Obviously. If the guns had been at home minding their business, none of this would have happened.
Here’s two headlines from the Chicago Sun-Times.
Four men murdered over seven hours Friday in Chicago – Chicago Sun-Times
Defendants on home confinement now get 2 days a week to roam freely, and some are getting in trouble – Chicago Sun-Times
Shocking, I know. If you can’t trust criminals, whom can you trust? Politicians?
A little-known provision of the SAFE-T Act — the criminal justice reform law Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed last year —now requires that criminal defendants who are on home confinement while awaiting trial must be given a minimum of two days a week to move freely, without being actively monitored.
I bet cops know it pretty well. But why not let criminals roam the streets? What could possibly go wrong?
Pritzker has defended the SAFE-T Act.
When he signed the law in February 2021, the governor said, “Transforming the pretrial detention system so low-income people aren’t thrown behind bars while only the wealthy walk free, diverting low-level drug crimes into substance-treatment programs and reducing excessive stays in prison.”
And excessive stays at home.
That day, an informant at the Cook County Jail told sheriff’s officials he saw Monroe get out of a car and point a Draco assault weapon toward the jail.
Investigators went back and checked Monroe’s GPS device and confirmed he’d been near the jail at 3:21 p.m. that day, according to a sheriff’s report, though no shots were fired.
They also said someone identified only as “Charlie” spoke on the phone with someone being held at the jail and told him, “I was going to shoot one in the air or shoot one at County.”
On March 7, authorities searched a West Englewood home where Monroe was living and found five guns, including a Draco assault weapon, according to a sheriff’s report. Monroe was charged with illegal gun possession, denied bail and ordered held at the jail, where he’s now awaiting trial, records show.
SAFE-T.
I blame the gun. It should have stayed home. It’s not Charlie’s fault the gun led him astray.
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