Preckwinkle To Take On Racial Inequities In Judicial System
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The head of the Cook County Board says she's working to address some of the racial inequities in the County's criminal justice system.
County Board President Toni Preckwinkle says you only need to look at the County Jail to see what is wrong with the justice system.
"The last time I checked 68 percent of the people in our jail were African-American, and needless to say this is about twice the proportion of African-Americans in the county," said Preckwinkle.
Preckwinkle To Take On Judicial System Inequities
Dealing with the inequities is a little more complicated.
"We're trying to work with all the actors in the public safety arena to try to reduce our jail population by providing alternatives to detention for non-violent offenders," said Preckwinkle.
That means finding or creating programs for those defendants so they can keep working until their cases are decided.
Toni Preckwinkle is the guest on this week's "At Issue" at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. Sunday on WBBM Newsradio 780 and 105.9 FM.
