Lori Lightfoot made her name as a candidate for mayor by criticizing Chicago’s police. Now running for reelection, she has pivoted toward sounding tough on crime.
In a high-profile instance this week, Lightfoot even talked tough on the rights of the accused. People charged with violent crime should be held in jail before trial, Lightfoot said, because “they’re guilty.”
Well, not quite. In fact, after someone is charged, there is a proceeding called a trial. The accused is presumed innocent. Judges and juries have the ultimate say on guilt or innocence, not tough-talking politicians seeking reelection.
Surely Lightfoot knows this. Most Americans do. Yet Lightfoot chose her over-the-top rhetoric out of apparent frustration with parts of the city’s criminal justice landscape she cannot control: Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans and a surge in violent crime that has vexed Chicago for the last two years.
Read more at the chicagotribune.com.