Can Cook County State's Attorney office be fixed?
The candidates for Cook County state's attorney agreed Thursday that police torture allegations reveal shortcomings of the office, but fought over how to fix the problem.
Federal charges this week that former Chicago police commander Jon Burge lied about repeatedly torturing suspects took front and center in the debate, along with concern that more than a dozen men on death row have had their convictions overturned, some because of their innocence.
Under the current regime, "Innocent men go to jail, and the guilty walk the streets," Republican nominee Tony Peraica charged.
"This office has been a complete failure," he said. "Both of my opponents have done nothing to change that system."
Incumbent Richard Devine is retiring, but in the more than 20 years each has worked as prosecutors in the office, Peraica said, neither Democratic nominee Anita Alvarez nor Green Party candidate Thomas O'Brien spoke out publicly against the high-profile mistakes.
Alvarez, chief deputy of the state's attorney's office, maintained such charges show a misunderstanding of how the office works.
She was new to the office when the Burge case had surfaced. Recently, after the statute of limitations had expired on state charges, it became a federal case that she supports. She boasted of her role in helping to implement videotaping of police interrogations to help prevent such abuses.
To re-establish community trust, Alvarez would open neighborhood satellite offices, with financial help from business sponsorship.
But more offices would only keep out residents who don't want to be seen as snitches, O'Brien countered. It would be much more effective, he suggested, to sponsor outreach at black churches and community groups.
And to prevent runaway prosecutions, O'Brien called for the next top prosecutor to abolish the death penalty in the county.
Alvarez favored a more conservative approach. With improved DNA profiling, she suggested, the office should go back and make sure that DNA confirms prior convictions.
"I understand the core mission of this office," Alvarez said. "That is fighting violence."
On the issue of jail overcrowding, Peraica said he would free room for violent offenders by keeping out nonviolent drug abusers, deferring them into treatment instead. A private attorney and member of the Cook County Board, Peraica has never prosecuted a case, but he played up his years of civil experience that neither of his opponents have.
Peraica criticized Alvarez for accepting $30,000 in campaign contributions from employees in the office, a practice he said he would stop, but Alvarez said it simply shows support from those who know what kind of leadership the office needs.
In one other note of agreement between both underdogs in the race, both Peraica and Green noted the vast majority of jail inmates are blacks and Latinos. Peraica called it a "dual system of justice," and Green called it "racist," which has built distrust among minorities of police and prosecutors.
Debate: Winner will replace retiring Devine