The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office is expanding citywide a program that allows Chicago police officers to directly file charges in some low-level felony gun cases, following a review of pilots in two police districts.

The program, which means prosecutors in the office’s Felony Review Unit will not first assess charges in some cases, has been controversial among some advocacy groups and community members, who objected to the pilot programs starting out in majority-Black neighborhoods and argued that an initial review was an important oversight measure.

But officials with the state’s attorney’s office said prosecutors still review the charges early in the case, adding that the process change has eased bottlenecks and freed up prosecutors and police officers for higher priority, victim-centric work.

“There is nothing more painful and tedious for victims or witnesses who have experienced something significantly difficult in life than having to wait in a police station for hours and hours and hours,” said Yvette Loizon, chief of policy at the state’s attorney’s office. “Oftentime when that happens, they throw up their hands and leave.”

Charges that are eligible for the program are three common low-level gun felonies that do not involve a victim or a discharge of the weapon.

The office’s Felony Review Unit is staffed at all hours by assistant state’s attorneys who work with police to evaluate whether charges are appropriate, often – for more serious cases – traveling to the police districts to interview witnesses and review evidence.

But for the low-level gun cases, Loizon said, prosecutors are not reviewing the evidence in person, and instead generally just making a phone call. That means, though, that police officers are often stuck waiting by the phone rather than out in cars responding to calls.

The office launched the effort in January as a pilot program in the department’s Englewood District on the South Side and later expanded to the Far South Side’s Calumet District.

A review of the pilot found that 99% of the directly filed cases resulted in a grand jury indictment or passed muster during a preliminary hearing, according to the office.

As of Thursday, 123 pilot gun cases have gone before a judge or grand jury, with all but one resulting in an indictment or finding of probable cause, according to data from the office.
Two cases have been amended to misdemeanor complaints. Most cases remain in early stages, but there have been 18 guilty pleas and one referral to a restorative justice court.

Cases are only eligible for direct filing if they are supported by body-worn camera footage and approved by a watch commander.

The office has developed a training program for police officers which will be deployed over the next two months, with the program expected to be fully integrated across the city by the end of January.

In a statement, State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said the program creates a “faster, more streamlined process” for victims, witnesses and law enforcement.

“From day one, law enforcement partners told us that the traditional felony review process—while essential—was also a major pain point, not only because it kept them from returning to the beat to answer calls for service, but because delays often left victims and witnesses waiting for hours and ultimately abandoning their initial intent to cooperate with the police,” Burke said.

Asked about concerns raised by community members in neighborhoods they say are already over-policed, Loizon said the office has attended events to talk about the program and will “continue to be responsive” to community members.

“There was not necessarily a clear understanding of what this program was trying to accomplish … and what it actually did,” she said. “There was a misperception that we were seeing that prosecutors were never going to review this felony and that law enforcement was going to have an opportunity to charge this felony without prosecutorial review.”

The office also noted that the pilot districts were chosen because they are among the busiest with a high volume of calls.

Cook County’s Felony Review Unit is nearly unique, with few other similar models nationwide in which prosecutors do an initial assessment of felony cases.

But when the pilot programs were announced Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell Jr. raised concerns, saying that the stakes can be high for an individual if police get charges wrong.

“When you’re talking about the stigma of being in jail, losing your job, losing your ability to take care of family members . … Those harms happen very quickly within a day,” Mitchell said.

The expansion, though, was lauded by Chicago police Supt. Larry Snelling, who in a statement, said the program gets “our officers back on the street faster, while making the process to hold gun possession offenders accountable more efficient.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/21/felony-review-pilot-citywide-gun-charges/