Cook County Budget Hearings October 25, 2013

                         The following are budget reports from Cook County
                                  Public Defender and Chief Judge

Public Defender Abishi Cunningham presented some details of his budget requests and changes made to his department in the past year.  First, the employee count (FTE) will increase  by 11 people in the area of line staff, investigators,  and additional attorneys. Last year the increase was 24 FTEs.   This should reduce overtime over the next year.  Staff and attorneys are working with outside groups to do bond reviews in order to lower bonds and/or  increase electronic monitoring.

Three new grants have been received:   to train attorneys on forensics such as DNA results;  for adult re-deployment  for non-violent drug users;  and for mitigation specialists to produce more informal sentencing decisions.

The Public Defender's office is working with the Clerk of the Court to monitor continuances (which appear to be excessive) in order to close cases more quickly.  Staff is being trained to use digital technology to help decrease court case duration.

One money-saving change in this department is purchasing fewer cars for employee use.  Instead, the use of  Zip Car, which is a public vehicle rental used by the county, and sharing the county's fleet vehicles  will lower expenses in this area.

STAR performance management goals include performance goals for staff;  evaluation of attorneys;    decreasing open cases;  and lowering complaints toward the Defender's office.  These last two goals have been accomplished in that there were fewer than 1% open cases and complaints.


Chief Judge Tim Evans appears to disagree strongly with President Preckwinkle's budget recommendation for the court system he leads and has asked the Commissioners to make amendments to increase his budget.  There is about a $6 million difference in the amount he has requested ($146.9 million) and the amount the President has budgeted ($140.6 million). He argued that the separation of powers in government, with all 3 branches being equal, warrants his getting 1/3 of the total budget;  his department currently has 5% of the budget.  He also complained that the President's office has many more highly paid (grade 24) employees than his office.  He has asked for 108 more employees and was budgeted 7 more.

Specifically, he has asked for more employees for a pre-trial service system  to make risk assessments of defendants.  This would aid bond court judges in making better decisions in deciding bond levels.  Currently, 51 probation officers are doing this job.  Judge Evans stated that judges use 38 factors including the risk assessment, current charge, and criminal history in determining bonds.  However, bond hearings usually last less than two minutes per case.

Psychiatric evaluations (to determine if a defendant is sane enough to stand trial) are taking 90 days and DNA evaluations are backlogged, both of  which make cases begin later and last longer.  With regard to juvenile defendants, Judge Evans stated that 5,000 are in alternative programs and 263 are in the Juvenile Detention Center.   He deems these programs a success in reducing recidivism and providing better rehabilitation for young defendants.

The County's new Legistar System (a new computer program) will enable outside hired attorneys to submit their payment orders themselves.  This should reduce transcribing errors, but attorneys and employees in the Clerk of the Court office will need to be trained in how to use the system correctly.

Judge Evans does not use the County's STAR performance management system but has stated "we are going to let the public know how close we are to standards."