The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 40: The End of Cash Bail in Illinois

How Faux News depicts Chicago

Many provisions of The Illinois Safe-T Act has already been in effect for two years, but today marks the End of Cash Bail.

The D-Bond (and I-Bond / C-Bond) system is over, although Warrants which predate 09/18/23 will still be subject to the Bond amount issued for them.

The end of cash bail was marked with a huge degree of caterwauling and lies by those who benefit from the current system and never, ever, have to worry about not being able to make bail for a minor offense and being stuck in Cook County lock-up for months facing misdemeanor charges.

What the cash bail system always did, and was designed to do, was help restrain the poor and working class.  Rich people who commit a homicide and get a $1,000,000 bail to bond out?  No problem.  Poor folk who can't make $5000 or even scrape together $500 well tough, you're being bussed to 26th and California. 

In reality, the new system still affords Judges, ASA's (Assistant State's Attorneys), and even the arresting officer the ability to detain a person based on a large variety of factors which are not difficult to obtain.  It still holds those arrested for Domestic Violence related crimes and higher level felonies in custody before being transported to Court for an initial hearing.   

All the rightwing fear mongering that the arrested person will go out and commit more crime is nothing less than a call for everyone arrested to be NEVER released from prison.  Which understand doesn't apply to Rightwing Domestic Terrorists from January 6th or from the 4 arrests of Donald John Traitor Trump, but really only to black and brown persons (and white people who have abrogated their innocence by advocating for the poor, the huddled masses, the downtrodden) who in the parlance of the Cook County court system are "mooks" or "mopes"

As Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve noted in her book, Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America's Largest Criminal Court (2017),

In the vernacular of court culture, defendants are identified by vulgarities: "scum," "piece of shit," "bad guys" - even "banana suits" (which refers to the jail jumper that defendants in custody must wear in court).  One term predominates among these epithets.  That term is "mopes," used mostly to refer to defendants but sometimes used to describe professionals as well.  The meaning inscribed in this term is central to the moral rubric applied to defendants by courtroom professionals.

"Mope" is shorthand for a person who violates these values.  Professionals find it difficult to regard a defendant as anything but a mope.   

What this is about is white society, especially rightwing society, believes a certain segment of America are a priori guilty and have, most likely, gotten away with some crime, so jailing them and holding them until they pay a monetary fee is just and right.   

Most of America doesn't want to believe the legal system writ large is unjust and unfair, so for years they told themselves the Cops are the good guys, the courts are fair, and Justice is blind in America.  The War on Drugs really shattered this belief system, but couldn't break it because Republicans continued to tell Americans drug abusers have a moral failing and anyone accused of a crime is ipso facto guilty.  And since the system was Fair & Balanced before now, that means Trump and the Republicans are absolutely right that Trump being charged with 91 Felonies is Weaponized Department of Justice and now we have a Two-Tiered Legal System, which just so happens to be exactly like Reverse-Racism and targeting totally innocent conservatives! 

The new No Bail system in Illinois is going to be a work in progress for a while and is going to be tweaked going forward.  But, if bad actors in the Prosecutor's Office, Sheriffs, and Municipal Police Departments are going to sabotage the effort it won't be because of the Law but, because of their own biased ideas of Justice in America.

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 36: Kim Foxx not gonna Run so instead Let's Go Brandon

Kim Foxx announced she will not seek reelection in 2024 after serving two terms as Cook County state's attorney.

“At the conclusion of my term, November of 2024, I will be stepping down as State’s Attorney. I will not be on next year’s ballot, by my choice,” Foxx told the room. “I became State’s Attorney to deliver safety, justice and equity. I feel that I have made my mark, so I’m ready to let new leadership step forward,” Foxx said in a written statement following today’s speech. “Over the next year and half, my office will continue to work diligently for the people of Cook County and uphold the values of a fair and just legal system.” 

If there was one thing that pissed Police off in Chicago and Cook County it was Kim Foxx.  Because Kim Foxx is guilty;  Guilty of the crime of being a black person of America.  This is the most unforgivable offense in the United States; past, present, and future.  As State's Attorney Kim Foxx instituted reforms to cash bail, expunged cannabis arrests (which of course, overwhelmingly targeted minorities), and helped overturn numerous wrongful convictions, resulting from Police misconduct.

Now, if you ask Police why they hate her the responses will no doubt include the ridiculous Jussie Smolett incident and Foxx's unforced error in intervening in the investigation.  But, overall the claim will be that Foxx did not allow the Police (and Cook County ASA's) to do their job; which is arresting and incarcerating minorities.  Standard refrains from Officers when asked about Chicago crime revolved around, 'What do you expect? It's Cook County!' and 'Kim Foxx won't do anything about this or that crime' and it's 'Kim Foxx is stopping us from charging criminals'.  Much of this was a thin veneer to cover for slipshod police work.  But, always remember Police don't arrest innocent people...

Now, remember what we are running into is not the Thin Blue Line but, the wall of Whiteness.  White people are inculcated from an early age to love Police but, also fear them.  This is most often seen when a white parents chastise their very young child's behavior by saying, 'Now!  Little Aiden don't do that or the Policeman will come take you away!'

The reason you do this is so white people learn to understand as long as they toe-the-line and support police they will be protected good standing members of the Congregation.  But, those congregants who transgress earn the sobriquet "Mopes".

As Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve noted in her book, Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America's Largest Criminal Court,

In the vernacular of court culture, defendants are identified by vulgarities: "scum," "piece of shit," "bad guys" - even "banana suits" (which refers to the jail jumper that defendants in custody must wear in court).  One term predominates among these epithets.  That term is "mopes," used mostly to refer to defendants but sometimes used to describe professionals as well.  The meaning inscribed in this term is central to the moral rubric applied to defendants by courtroom professionals.

Work ethic, competency, and motivation are central elements of court culture.  Efficiency and speed of disposition provide daily evidence of the court professional's work ethic.  Not surprisingly, plea bargains rather than trials define this proverbial machine of efficient justice, and judges and prosecutors pride themselves on efficiency. 

"Mope" is shorthand for a person who violates these values.  Professionals find it difficult to regard a defendant as anything but a mope.  

As we see with the Sinister Six Injustices in the Supremacist Court, the Law, Officials, and Courts in America has morphed into a quasi-religion, the new Priesthood, and Church of America.  For decades now, we've been treated to numerous TV shows which demonstrate the sublime perfection of the Mystic Legal Religion, as Cops always get there, Judges are humble, impartial arbiters of immutable Holy Script, and the Prosecutors follow the god-given tenets of law to achieve absolute truth.  While defendants attempt to wiggle free.  In many courtrooms across the land certain people are rushed through the system and incarcerated whilst others enjoy the long, slow process, multiple appeals, delays, motions, and extended mysteries of the courtroom.   

The role of Police is to be the first line enforcing this Mystical Legal Religion (which has all the hallmarks of White Supremacy); now every Officer I know would (and has) immediately balked and become defensive or dismissive of this when I point it out for a variety of personal reasons or unexamined assumptions but, this is often because they can not or will not see the systematic Institutional Racism which undergirds American society.

Because Police Officers are terrible lawyers and should not be trusted when it comes to their opinion on the charging of crimes.  So Cook County makes Officers call Assistant State's Attorney's for background and approval when charging felonies.  But, I've never met an Officer who didn't think every single arrest he made was a lock solid certainty and the defendant 100% guilty.  Now, I never made an arrest when I did not believe I had probable cause, but I've never gotten mad at not "winning" in the Courtroom.

In this system, blacks and Hispanics are always a priori considered "mopes" until proved otherwise and white people are presumed to have been raised in the spirit of holy Justice to uphold the white supremacist ideals that the Court enforces.  But, by interfering in the fast disposition of defendants, Kim Foxx became Queen Mope to Officers working in Chicago and Cook County, who took to routinely blaming Foxx for all the woes and all crime in the City and Cook County.  Of course, this is total nonsense.

Incidentally, this is why every Republican, every rightwing tv station and every internet propagandist is mad about the revelations of extreme corruption, cartoonish criminality, and highly unethical behavior of the Ettins of the Supreme Court; Clarence and Ginni, John Roberts and his wife Jane Sullivan, Sammy di puzzi Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Boofer O'Kavanugh, and Amy Coathanger Barrett.  Since they are the High Mullahs of America their whims are infallible and their dictates (much like those of Kacsmaryk or the podunk goober Judges in down state Illinois) are received from on-high and are actually the transmittals of the Idealized Pure Law and thus unimpeachable.  Also, conservatives will be apoplectic if Dick Durbin gets off his ass and abolishes the outmoded and fascist friendly blue-slip Senate rules because conservatives have stolen the Judiciary fair and square!

However, now that Kim Foxx is gone, rightwingers and asshole Reactionary Cops have lost their satan whom they could blame for any of their lazy fuck-ups in building a case, sloppy detective work, and for all crime everywhere in Cook County.  But, thankfully white supremacy in Chicago is saved because in April Brandon Johnson won the Chicago Mayoral Election against Paul Vallas and before the final vote was even tabulated rightwingers had a downtown incident which was 100% Brandon Johnson's fault and which 100% showed what the rightwing wurlitzer will do going forward. 

And just like that I'm no different than Darren Wilson or any of the other Out of Control Criminal Cops

Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the Wrong Guy - David Bowie, Life on Mars?

The Park District in my town serves a large and diverse group of people in Cook County and we have a fancy, very desirable pool complex. Therefore, every summer when kids leave their unlocked bikes outside the pool entrance, they find them stolen.

So, this weekend I have the misfortune to receive a few of these stolen bike reports, which stupidly, I decided to solve through basic investigation and some footwork, instead of merely writing up a report and moving on.

Now, I have to be purposefully vague here. After investigating, locating and returning several bikes, which had seemingly been stashed nearby, I also located a couple juvenile offenders.

And that's when things went haywire. I found myself being circled by women demanding my name and badge number. At least one had her cell phone camera out. Conversations about how This Isn't Right were spoken loudly nearby so that I might hear them. I think those mothers believed I was going to harm those juveniles...

A couple of pool lifeguards (envision privileged never been out of the suburbs white college kids), probably altered by the above mentioned mothers thought it was their duty to surreptitiously record the interaction with their cell phone cameras, eventhough I clearly positioned myself in front of the Pool's front entrance camera. Their feigned nonchalance was ludicrous.

I realized these people whom I never met were judging me by what I was wearing. That they had formed conclusions about me without any real knowledge of who I am. I was just another potentially out-of-control white cop who might snap at a moment's notice.

It would be the height of obtuse tone-deafness for me to say now I know what it feels like to be an African-American driving and be pulled over. Because, I can still easily badge my way out of any traffic stop and as a cop in a Cook County suburb I'm well off financially.

But, the take away from most police officers and the ones on my force whom I talked with about this incident, is far different than my own. The blame with the current environment between Law Enforcement and the American Public lies completely with the criminal cops who have no idea how to police. Who have been trained to be suspect all People of Color, subject their communities to the Broken Windows policy, hand out citations/tickets in order to plug budget gaps, see themselves wholly apart from the communities they've been ostensibly sworn to Protect & Serve, while they more and more see themselves as some sort of Paramilitary Occupying Power.