Felony Review and Bond Court – First Contact with the Criminal Justice

Felony Review and Bond Court – First Contact with the Criminal Justice System

No doubt you have heard almost every day from local and national media outlets about arrests, felony charges, and sometimes arrests where there is not enough information about why the arrest was made.

I want to explain two of the most important aspects of the criminal justice system that most citizens have no real idea as to how they work – the Felony Review system and Bond Court.

These two processes are the front door to the criminal justice system as far as court goes. Felony Review and Bond Court would be similar to a citizen walking into the lobby of a police facility and either talking to the desk officer, or 9-1-1 operator. They are the first contacts that a citizen has with the police.

Felony Review and Bond Court are the first processes that defendants have after being arrested. I will start with Felony Review since it is the first process to be started in order to get to Bond Court. First, you should know that Felony Review is not a law/statute; it is a policy decision by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.

What crimes are available for review by the Felony Review unit? Basically, any felony except for minor drug cases and certain traffic offenses. An exception would be one misdemeanor offense of Domestic Battery. If arrested for Domestic Battery, all defendants must appear in Bond Court which is a state statute. Almost all other cases must be reviewed by the State's Attorney's Office State's Attorney Policies.

The process typically works as follows: an officer arrests someone for a felony violation, either a self-initiated arrest or an on-view arrest; in either case, a defendant is taken into custody. They are then transported to a police facility where their rights are read and they are interviewed (assuming they want to speak with police).

Arresting officers may (at times) get detectives involved depending on what type of crime the arrest was made. Officers then collect all evidence to support their case. This could be video, audio, physical evidence, and any witness statements associated with the crime. Once the officer/detective believes there is enough evidence for approval, they call the Felony Review unit, explain the case and circumstances surrounding the arrest and evidence, and ask for an approval.

At times, States Attorneys will come out to the police facility to talk to defendants themselves. This typically happens if the arrest is for a violent crime against another person (this normally does not happen in property crimes). It is common for officers to wait hours for a return call from Felony Review and, in some cases, it may be as long as a day.

That said, police departments typically have 48-72 hours to hold defendants until they must appear in front of a Bond Court. The only way to avoid this is to get a judge's order to extend custody of a defendant at a local police facility, and this is rarely done.

There are really three choices that a State's Attorney has when police call for a Felony Review: approve the felony charges, reject the felony charges, or punt and issue what is called a CI, Continuing Investigation. This means the State's Attorney feels it is a good case, but they think there is not enough evidence to proceed. This requires police to release the defendant and continue to investigate the case and call Felony Review again at a later date; this could be weeks or even months down the road. This used to be a rare occurrence, but State's Attorneys use Continuing Investigations all the time now.

Police officers and detectives hate the CI status; there is either enough evidence or there is not – so file the charges or reject them.

After Felony Review is approved (assuming that happens), defendants are then taken to Bond Court at the next available time. This can be suburban Bond Courts or more likely the main Bond Court at 26th and California in Chicago. Police officers must bring the defendants in very early in the morning so they can be checked in by the Sheriff's office and then checked in with the Bond Court Felony Review assistant.

When the defendant appears in Bond Court Cook County Bond Court, there is some pre-evaluation done by court services. This may include a defendant's criminal history, convictions, nature of the crime, if it was a violent crime, if there was a person as a victim, and other evidence pointing toward the defendant being a risk to the public.

They will also review whether it is likely a defendant will show up in court if released on bond. If you hear the term I-Bond, this stands for a Personal Recognizance bond - meaning the defendant is simply released on his/her signature only. Typically, they may also, at the same time, be put on what is called EM, Electronic Monitoring. It is common that defendants released on signature are also released on EM. What happens next? They are released from Bond Court and walk out the door with a court date within the next 30 days.

If someone you know is arrested and you do not know the process or where they are being held, what time they are going to Bond Court and how Bond Court works - walk into your local police department and ask to speak to a supervisor or someone in the command staff and have them explain the process step-by-step – it is their responsibility.

Chief Thomas Weitzel (Ret.)

Follow Chief on Twitter - @chiefweitzel

Tom Weitzel retired from the Riverside, Illinois Police Department in May of 2021 after 37 years in law enforcement, 13 years as Chief of Police. Opinions are his own.