Public safety is a human right that constitutes the government’s primary responsibility to its citizens. In Cook County, however, that right is being denied by the “criminal industrial complex” of special interest groups that has transformed criminal justice reform into a lucrative enterprise. They are lawyers, advocates, researchers, consultants and consent decree monitors who have a financial interest in these “reforms.”  They use racism to legitimize and expand their economic enterprise, yet low-income families that are overwhelmingly Black and Latino are victimized by their advocacy. They push narratives that increasingly treat criminals like victims and police like criminals, and they negate the fact that the majority of victims are people of color who deserve to be safe. In Chicago, Black residents this year made up 32% of the city’s population but almost 75% of homicide victims.  Among those profiting from the criminal justice system are major donors to the Cook County Democratic Party. The party’s biggest contributors are lawyers who represent the city or file lawsuits against it for clients. Since 2000, the city has paid $138 million to outside lawyers defending the city. They more often than not settle cases rather than try them. Between the lawyers, the well-funded criminal justice reform advocates and the universities that are funded to conduct research, there is big money involved. Meanwhile, our criminal justice system is placing people increasingly at risk. Every day, criminals who have committed violent acts are on the streets. It’s not difficult to see why. Reduction of police strength by 1,700 positions means half of high-priority 911 calls are not responded to. Is it any coincidence that cases of domestic violence have skyrocketed in recent years? The Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports a 110% spike in domestic violence-related deaths just last year. The Cook County sheriff’s electronic monitoring program has devolved to allow defendants charged with violent crimes to sit at home while getting “good time credit,” which may cut their sentences in half. Despite these disturbing statistics, the chief judge of Cook County and the entire Illinois court system hide behind the laws that exempt them from Freedom of  Information Act requests, all to protect their judges from scrutiny, hide the failures of their pretrial and probation programs, and shield the juvenile justice system from accountability to the taxpayers who fund their operations. Despite data to the contrary, this same group of elected officials and supporters still insists the SAFE-T Act is working. They appear to have dismissed the call to action by Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez to address the fact that defendants missed court 67,000 times. They ignore the fact that residents and businesses fear for their safety, and they refuse to act even after being told that homicides in domestic cases went up 110% last year. The criminal justice system is a multifaceted and multibillion-dollar enterprise, and city, county and state agencies are all involved. Yet, only the police are under a federal consent decree that measures success by the number of police shootings and complaints and the public’s confidence in the Chicago Police Department, while disregarding the impact it is having on crime. It’s time to secure a systemwide, public safety consent decree that protects our rights. Such a decree would span the city, county and state agencies that make up the criminal justice system, focusing on protecting victims, enshrining the rights of all Cook County citizens to be safe and ensuring that taxpayers are funding an honest, collaborative government. Agencies subject to the decree should include the sheriff, courts and clerk of the court. Without an independent monitor, too many Cook County residents will continue to have their human rights denied. Paul Vallas is an adviser for the Illinois Policy Institute. He ran for Chicago mayor in 2023 and in 2019 and was previously budget director for the city and CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].