Taking politics out of the courts is the first step to fixing a broken system

Judge Timothy Evans says the system is working properly, when a three-time loser by the age of 16 is out on probation and guns down an 8-year-old in broad daylight. The system then, is obviously broken.

Further, his callous defense of the probation system on the same day the 16-year-old was arrested for the murder shows a politician hard at work to save his job.

Nothing is going to bring Melissa Ortega back, but would it be so hard for the city’s highest judge to show a little compassion? Taking politics out of the courtroom is the first step. Changing our laws so violent criminals stay off the streets is the next.

Scot Sinclair, Third Lake

Ignoring reality

Mary Mitchell wrote exactly what many of us are thinking.

Her column clearly addresses the problems with our current judicial process. Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans easily cites statistics, but he seems to ignore the reality of those statistics — human lives, including so many children, killed. As Mary Mitchell said, “Corripio should not have been on the street that day.”

It’s time our judicial leaders recognize their current process has failed and make the necessary changes to keep our citizens safer.

Barb Marion, Orland Park

Trump is at it again

Now former President Donald Trump is talking about pardoning the criminals who took part in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, should he be re-elected in 2024.

What he should be concerned with is whether or not his legal defense team will be successful in keeping him out of prison for inciting the riot. To date, about 725 people have been charged with a variety of crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, from breaking the Capitol’s windows to assaulting the police. Trump himself is now fighting half a dozen civil lawsuits for his own role in the Capitol breech.

Maybe his lawyers should tell him that convicted felons are precluded from running for office.

John Livaich, Oak Lawn

Van Dyke’s ‘homecoming’

Michael Sneed has always been a strong supporter of the Chicago police, which is her right. But her column on Jason Van Dyke’s pending release from prison portrayed him and his family as the victims, while barely mentioning the real victim and his family, goes too far.

Jason Van Dyke executed a young black man, shooting him 16 times, for which he was found guilty and sent to prison. To call his release a ‘homecoming’ implies he should be welcomed back to the community with open arms, rather than shunned for unnecessarily taking Laquan McDonald’s life.

I’m not at all convinced.

Richard Keslinke, Algonquin