{"id":6507,"date":"2025-04-09T18:44:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T18:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=6507"},"modified":"2025-04-09T18:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T18:46:09","slug":"six-years-later-is-the-chicago-police-consent-decree-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=6507","title":{"rendered":"Six Years Later \u2013 Is the Chicago Police Consent Decree Working?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rose Airaldi\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Associate Editor<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2026<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Six years ago, the City of Chicago (the City) entered into a consent decree establishing a <\/span>framework for sweeping reform<\/span><\/a> of the policies and operations of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the City. This major reform effort was initiated after Chicago police officers shot and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014. Chicago\u2019s consent decree is aimed at addressing concerns in several areas, especially police accountability and officer misconduct. Oversight is done by the <\/span>Independent Monitoring Team<\/span><\/a>, which reviews and assesses the City\u2019s compliance. After almost six and a half years, the City is nowhere close to fulfilling the requirements. Even worse, Chicagoans have little faith that the City will ever reach full compliance.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The City of Chicago\u2019s implementation of its consent decree<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A consent decree is a legally binding <\/span>settlement agreement approved by the court<\/span><\/a> with the consent of all parties. These decrees are designed to establish sustainable reform and typically consist of \u201c<\/span>specific requirements and deadlines for action<\/span><\/a>.\u201d They are most commonly used to reform a police department or correctional system, often stemming from a lawsuit against the jurisdiction that operates \u201c<\/span>the department in question<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019, the City joined a growing list of jurisdictions operating under a consent decree. On March 1<\/span>st<\/span>, <\/span>Chicago\u2019s consent decree became effective<\/span><\/a>, though the road to establishment spanned years and was highly contentious. The process was initiated after the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) <\/span>launched an investigation<\/span><\/a> into CPD\u2019s practices in the wake of McDonald\u2019s death. In 2017, the DOJ concluded that the CPD continually engaged in <\/span>concerning misconduct<\/span><\/a> \u2013 over-policing tactics, blatant discrimination against minority groups, and violence. Based on their findings, the <\/span>\u201cDOJ recommended that the City enter into a consent decree,\u201d<\/span><\/a> but the Trump administration refused.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After over 3 years of work, a <\/span>\u201cfinal consent decree\u201d<\/span><\/a> was approved by Judge Robert Down in <\/span>State of Illinois v. City of Chicago<\/span><\/i>, No. 17-cv-6260<\/span><\/a>. Both CPD and the City are required to implement systems of reform to \u201censure\u2026 <\/span>constitutional and effective policing<\/span><\/a> that keeps both community members and officers safe and restores the community\u2019s trust in the CPD.\u201d The consent decree encompasses <\/span>11 focus areas<\/span><\/a>, including use of force, officer wellness and support, accountability and transparency, and crisis intervention.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oversight of the decree was given to the <\/span>Independent Monitoring Team (IMT)<\/span><\/a>, appointed by Judge Dow. The IMT is tasked with assessing the City\u2019s progress, reporting their findings to Judge Dow, and <\/span>ensuring that the CPD and the City implement reform<\/span><\/a> that is measurable and has positive impacts on policing tactics.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Community response to compliance failures<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Current compliance with the consent decree isn\u2019t as high as one might hope. As of November 2024, compliance with the <\/span>mandated requirements hovers around a meager 9%.<\/span><\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s been a <\/span>waste of time and money<\/span><\/a>,\u201d said Sheila Bedi, professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Bedi isn\u2019t the only one who feels this way. According to IMT\u2019s \u2018<\/span>Community Service Report<\/span><\/a>,\u2019 the public confidence in reform efforts dropped to 27% in 2024 \u2013 down 4% from 2024.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite Chicagoans lack of confidence, the City continues to allocate <\/span>hundreds of millions of dollars into reform efforts<\/span>. Since 2020, more than <\/span>$660 million has been approved<\/span><\/a> for consent decree implementation, yet a quarter of these funds remain unspent. Mayor Brandon Johnson (Johnson) approved an <\/span>additional $194.6 million for 2025 alone<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson has receiving criticism<\/span><\/a> for the lack of progress. The <\/span>budget Johnson proposed for 2025<\/span><\/a> included cuts that would have eliminated approximately 13% of personnel responsible for consent decree implementation and follow through. Advocates argued that this blow to employment numbers would <\/span>impair the City\u2019s capacity<\/span><\/a> to meet its legal obligations of the decree requirement. <\/span>Former Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson<\/span><\/a> emphasized the severity of the issue, stating \u201cYou can\u2019t drive change when you do not even get to fulfill your leadership team that is necessary to do that.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (Raoul) <\/span>stood firm in his expectations<\/span><\/a> for law enforcement departments. In a formal letter, <\/span>Raoul reminded Johnson<\/span><\/a> of the obligations of the City, \u201cI must remind you that the consent decree is not optional\u2026 The City of Chicago must deliver on its consent decree obligations.\u201d Raoul planned to <\/span>seek sanctions<\/span><\/a> if Johnson decided to move forward with the scheduled budget cuts. Under mounting pressure from Raoul and reform advocates, Johnson <\/span>agreed to reverse<\/span><\/a> the staffing reductions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where does this leave Chicagoans?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Six years since the enactment of the consent decree and the City of Chicago has little to show for it. The decree was envisioned as a turning point \u2013 a fresh opportunity to rebuild the broken trust between law enforcement and the community and ensure constitutional policing practices. The reality is not as bright as promised. With compliance rates not even at 10%, the decree\u2019s effectiveness, and future, is continually called into question.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul\u2019s firm stance highlights a harsh, but true, reality: consent decrees, and reform promises, are not symbolic. They are binding legal commitments that <\/span>must <\/span><\/i>be carried out swiftly and confidently in the form of meaningful action. With the inconsistency of city leadership and downward trending numbers of citizen faith, the idea of police reform in the City of Chicago remains just that \u2013 an idea.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The shortcomings of Chicago\u2019s consent decree illustrates the glowing potential and harsh reality of regulatory compliance networks in cities with historic roots of misconduct and discrimination. For the City to achieve tangible reform, advocates must continue to demand accountability and concrete action \u2013 not the promises of such.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six years ago, the City of Chicago (the City) entered into a consent decree establishing a framework for sweeping reform of the policies and operations of the Chicago Police Department and the City. This major reform effort was initiated after Chicago police officers shot and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014. Chicago\u2019s consent decree is aimed at addressing concerns in several areas, especially police accountability and officer misconduct. Oversight is done by the Independent Monitoring Team, which reviews and assesses the City\u2019s compliance. After almost six and a half years, the City is nowhere close to fulfilling the requirements. Even worse, Chicagoans have little faith that the City will ever reach full compliance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[382,2385,468,2383,536,2384,646,731,1205],"class_list":["post-6507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-department-of-justice","tag-chicago","tag-city-of-chicago","tag-compliance","tag-consent-decree","tag-cpd","tag-criminal-law","tag-doj","tag-enforcement","tag-journal-of-regulatory-compliance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6507"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6509,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6507\/revisions\/6509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}