In Cook County, drug crimes represented a bigger share of felony cases than any other major county in the United States, according to a federal study released Thursday.
The Justice Department study -- a snapshot of 39 counties in May 2006 -- found that drug crimes were the most serious charge filed against 57 percent of felony defendants in Cook County.
Also in Cook County, only 9 percent of the felony cases involved violent crimes, the lowest percentage in the United States, according to the study. The percentage of property crimes and public crimes, such as driving under the influence, were in the average range among the 39 counties.
It doesn't say if the low percentage of violent crimes charged is due to low police arrest totals, or the far more likely unwillingness of Cook County Felony Review State's Attorneys to actually charge people with violent crimes, preferring instead to "CI" violent felonies or plea out violent felonies to misdemeanors. Seeing the large number of repeat offenders, especially on weapons charges, going through the revolving door of the courts, we're going to guess it's the latter.
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