County Board President Candidate Releases Comprehensive Position Paper That Offers Four Point Plan Detailing Alternatives to Taxes
Dorothy Brown speaks to reporters Nov. 19
CHICAGO—On November 19, 2009, Dorothy Brown, candidate for Cook County Board President, released her comprehensive plan to address the crisis within the Cook County Justice System.
“I am deeply concerned about the continuing crises at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) and the Cook County Jail,” said Brown who vowed to work closely with all officials to implement her plan to improve the administration of the Cook County justice system.
“As President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, I will focus on reforming the Juvenile Center and the County Jail, making sure that the court systems run efficiently; and bringing the entire system into the 21st Century,” she added.
Her position paper highlighted how, in 2007, control of the JTDC was transferred from the Office of the President to the Office of the Chief Judge. The goal was to leverage the professional management experience of the Chief Judge’s Office and to develop a comprehensive, integrated approach for addressing the problems and needs of youth at the JTDC. Also in 2007, a federal judge appointed a temporary administrator to revamp operations and bring the JTDC into compliance with federal mandates.
“As President, I will make reform of the Juvenile Justice Temporary Detention Center, one of my top priorities,” said Brown. “I will, one, work with the Chief Judge to ensure that the personnel management practices are revamped; two, coordinate and seek federal, state and private funding for rehabilitative juvenile justice initiatives so that our youth are being properly shaped to be productive citizens, and not just future felons, thereby also reducing the violence among our youth as a whole; thirdly, I will encourage alternatives to juvenile detention; and finally, I will ensure that we implement nationally recognized successful juvenile justice detention techniques.”
The crisis at the Cook County Jail must be solved explained Brown. Since 1982, Cook County has been under a federal consent decree to improve conditions at the Jail and stop violating the civil rights of detainees. For nearly three decades now, the County has failed to comply with all of the requirements of the consent decree. The repeated failure comes with a huge price tag since the County must spend money on costly litigation in the federal courts.
“As President, I will set budget priorities with all of the Public Safety agencies, including alternative sentencing and more efficiently run court cases and seek other funding mechanisms such as charging inmates health insurances or helping them to file for Medicaid or medicare automatically for medical services provided, garnishing future wages or bond money of inmates that damage jail property,” said Brown. “I will create new revenue streams through economic development and grants that will permit the County to move toward full compliance with the consent decree.”
Another place for major improvement is the Criminal Court System. In Cook County, the felony criminal courts handle about 24,000 cases a year with 44 judges and the misdemeanor criminal courts handle about 180,000 cases a year with 22 judges. Since there are so few judges for such a heavy caseload, the wheels of justice turn very slowly. Many times, individuals spend several years in jail only to be found not guilty.
Another reason the wheels of justice turn slowly is because of the heavy caseload of the Public Defender’s Office. The Public Defender defends many of the same cases as the State’s Attorney prosecutes.
However, for example, in FY 2010, the Public Defender is budgeted at $56.5 million with 694 full-time equivalent employees, whereas the States Attorney is budgeted at $131.3 million with 1,288 employees. Therefore, many times cases are held up because the Public Defender has not had time to prepare an adequate defense.
As a result the Public Defender recommends that men and women plead guilty or plea bargain a case, many times even when they probably innocent, to speed up the case, thereby giving innocent people criminal records that affect them for the rest of their lives.
Brown added: “As President, I will work with the Chief Judge to ensure an efficiently run Criminal Court System to ensure we properly fund the measures needed to ensure a more efficiently run court system and I will seek a means to permanently fund the Public Defender’s Office at a level that will ensure proper justice for citizens.”
When talking about justice administration and how to improve access and timeliness of justice with respect to technology, integration is the buzz word for how justice agencies can impact access and timeliness. “I will build a 21st Century Information Technology Structure for the Justice System.”
Many of the problems facing the County’s justice system can be solved with responsible leadership that has both vision and the ability to communicate effectively. The President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners has significant control over the administration of justice in Cook County, including budget control, but unfortunately, last minute budgeting and lack of coordinated communication between the Clerk of the Circuit Court, the Cook County Sheriff, the State’s Attorney office and the Chief Judge means that every one submits a budget in a vacuum.
“When I am Cook County Board President the era of last minute budgeting and overlapping financial requests will be over,” added Brown who operates the Clerk’s office in the black and have saved taxpayers over $187 million since I took office. “Reform, innovation and fiscal responsibility will be the new mantra.”
“As President, I will work diligently with the Sheriff and the Chief Judge to ensure that the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center and the Cook County Jail become truly professional operations,” she said. “We can and will improve the administration of the Cook County justice system and ensure it runs properly.”
*Dorothy Brown has served as Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County for nine years. She is a CPA, has an MBA, holds a law degree, and has the executive management experience and financial background to set Cook County’s financial house in order.
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