Cook County State’s Attorney Will Decline to Prosecute Peaceful Protestors

Criminal Justice , , ,

Beginning the weekend of May 29, thousands of people took to the streets in world-wide protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minnesota Police, calling for broad defunding of police departments nationwide as an explicit valuation of Black Lives. In response to the protests in Chicago, Mayor Lightfoot issued a citywide curfew on May 30, from 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM, that was in effect through June 7. As demonstrations continued, the Chicago Police reportedly made over 3,000 arrests. 

On Tuesday, June 30, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced that her office will decline to prosecute charges against peaceful protestors arrested for curfew violations and disorderly conduct. Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers support the State’s Attorney’s decision to abstain from prosecuting peaceful protestors. Given the gross racial disparities in arrests for curfew violations and the overwhelmingly “nonviolent” nature of the majority of charges, this abstention is an appropriate and necessary response. 

With help from Civis Analytics and the Chicago Data Collaborative, Chicago Appleseed analyzed the Chicago Police Department’s publicly-posted arrest data for the weekend to understand the nature of the arrests. There were approximately 860 arrests made for likely-protest-related charges (including Disorderly Conduct, Curfew Violation, Reckless Conduct, Criminal Trespass, Aggravated Battery of a Peace Officer, Resisting Arrest, Aggravated Assault of a Peace Officer, Mob Action, Possession of Paint with Intent to Deface, and Criminal Defacement of Property) from Friday, May 29 through Sunday, May 31. This is substantially higher than on weekends without protests; the number of total arrests is more than seven times that for those charges over the same weekend in 2019. 

Ultimately, the Chicago Police arrested more people for peaceful actions than for allegations of property damage, “looting,” or assaults on police. At least two-thirds of likely-protest-related charges from the weekend were for Disorderly Conduct, described in CPD reports as “assembly of greater than three persons and/or breach of peace.” According to a Chicago Reader analysis, nearly 80% of the arrests made by CPD to enforce curfew on May 31 and June 1 – the first two days of the curfew – were of Black individuals.

Though the curfew was announced just 20-minutes before it took effect, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that 49 people were arrested and later charged with violations during the first five minutes of the curfew; police labeled 45% of arrested people Black, 37% white, and 8% Hispanic. Although protests and “looting” were reported in nearly every neighborhood in Chicago, arrests were overwhelmingly made Downtown (Police District 1) and on the Near North Side (Police District 18). Between May 29 and 31, the largest number of arrests (690) were made on Chicago’s north side.

Since that first week, thousands have been arrested for protest-related charges. Most arrests continued to be for protesting itself, such as Disorderly Conduct – the quintessential arrest charge for peaceful protestors. The majority of arrests were not for violence, property destruction, or “looting.”

Chicago Appleseed and the Council applaud the State’s Attorney’s Office in its decision not to prosecute peaceful protestors, given the clear racial disparities in the protest-related arrests, especially for alleged curfew violations; the fact that 371 complaints—56% for alleged excessive force—were filed against CPD officers for actions during the protests (from May 29 through June 11); and the fundamentally nonviolent nature of the allegations.

Kaitlyn Filip is an Appleseed Network/Chicago Appleseed & Chicago Council of Lawyers Collaboration for Justice Fellow and JD-PhD Student at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, studying Communication Studies: Rhetoric and Public Culture.