USA 2024 Elections Thread

grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com
Sat May 13 13:24:34 PDT 2023


> Chicago

After 20 Years As A Prosecutor In Illinois, I Quit

The following is an email written by Cook County prosecutor Jason
Poje, circulated to colleagues last week. Via RealClear Wire,

To my colleagues:

After 20 years, I always kind of figured an email like this would
start with “It is with a heavy heart that I leave…” The truth is, I
can’t get out of here fast enough.

Let me start with the positive. There is not a single day that has
gone by that I have not felt truly honored to work with such an
incredible group of people who spent every waking hour on behalf of
victims. This opportunity has been a gift for which I have no words to
explain the extent of my gratitude.

My partners, our Victim/Witness advocates, our Investigators, our
support staff, the police officers and detectives, time after time I
see each of you putting everything you have into helping people we
encounter on the worst days of their lives. So often I see our
personal lives, and indeed at times our own well-being, set aside just
to do a little bit more on that last case for that last victim. It’s
been nothing short of inspiring not as a lawyer, but as a person.

And yet, I’m leaving. Why could that be? The simple fact is that this
State and County have set themselves on a course to disaster. And the
worst part is that the agency for whom I work has backed literally
every policy change that had the predictable, and predicted, outcome
of more crime and more people getting hurt.

Bond reform designed to make sure no one stays in jail while their
cases are pending with no safety net to handle more criminals on the
streets, shorter parole periods, lower sentences for repeat offenders,
the malicious and unnecessary prosecution of law enforcement officers,
overuse of diversion programs, intentionally not pursuing prosecutions
for crimes lawfully on the books after being passed by our legislature
and signed by a governor, all of these so-called reforms have had a
direct negative impact, with consequences that will last for a
generation.

Many years ago my family found a nice quiet corner of the suburbs. Now
my son, who is only 5, hears gunfire while playing at our neighborhood
park, and a drug dealer is open-air selling behind my house (the
second one in two years). If it were just me to consider, I’d stick it
out. I’ve been through stupid State’s Attorney policies before. But
this Office’s complete failure to even think for a moment before
rushing into one popular political agenda after another has put my
family directly in harm’s way.

The current people in charge of this state, including the [State’s
Attorney’s Office] suffer from a fundamental misunderstanding…we live
in a society with adversarial court and criminal justice processes.
Defense attorneys, legal aid clinics, Public Defenders, defendant
advocate groups…they fight like hell to protect the rights of criminal
defendants. And they should. Their work is as noble as ours. But we
have an obligation to fight like hell on behalf of the People. It
should go without saying that this must be done ethically and
evenhandedly. When both sides vigorously defend their positions, a
balance is reached between protecting rights while preserving some
sort of order and safety. Once we start doing too much of the
defense’s job, once we pull our punches, once we decide that it’s
worth risking citizens’ lives to have a little social experiment, that
balance is lost. The unavoidable consequences are what we are
witnessing in real time, an increase in crime of all kinds, businesses
and families pulling up stakes, and the bodies piling up; the whole
time with a State’s Attorney who insists that there is nothing to see
here, and if there is it must be someone else’s fault. And then they
wonder why they cannot retain experienced prosecutors or even hire new
ones…it’s because any true prosecutor recognizes the importance of
this balance, and that they will not be permitted to be a prosecutor
under this administration.

I will not raise my son here. I am fortunate enough to have the means
to escape, so my entire family is leaving the State of Illinois. I
grew up here, my family and friends are here, and yet my own employer
has turned it into a place from which I am no longer proud to be, and
in which my son is not safe.

To everyone in the trenches in the State’s Attorney’s Office and in
law enforcement, my one regret is that I cannot be at your side
anymore as you continue to fight the good fight. I do not envy the
task you have before you, but you have my utmost respect for carrying
on. I hope one day you are successful at returning some kind of common
sense and security to our communities.

Thank you all so much for this opportunity to serve. I will treasure
every moment of this chapter in my life. Be safe, be well, fight hard.

Jason F. Poje
Assistant State’s Attorney


More information about the cypherpunks mailing list