By Paul Vallas

April 3^rd, 2026

The tragic murder of Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman, allegedly by an undocumented migrant, is not simply the result of lax local immigration enforcement. It is the product of a broader criminal justice system that is broken—a system that too often prioritizes the rights of offenders over the safety and dignity of victims. It is also a system corrupted by ideologically driven policies and sustained by powerful financial interests that have turned “criminal justice reform” into a lucrative industry at the expense of the public and crime victims.

It is appalling that Governor J.B. Pritzker waited four days to comment on the murder of Sheridan Gorman. When he finally did, his remarks offered token condolences to the family and then shifted blame onto President Trump, whom he has demonized and refused to cooperate with on immigration enforcement. Instead of owning his administration’s decisions on sanctuary policies and coordination with federal authorities, he chose to politicize Sheridan’s death. Pritzker appears to believe he can spin the public and duck responsibility for any problem—even those of his own making. [1]

For Pritzker and many of his supporters, the easiest way to avoid responsibility in this tragedy is to make it about Trump and national politics. They have devoted their energy to accusing Trump and his administration of exploiting Gorman’s murder to justify mass deportations, claiming that calls for stricter enforcement paint all undocumented immigrants as dangerous. But that deflection ignores the specific and well-documented reality that some migrants with criminal records beyond their immigration status have committed serious violent crimes that could have been prevented with responsible enforcement and cooperation between levels of government. [2]

The failure to work constructively with the federal government to remove dangerous non-citizens mirrors broader state and local policies that, in recent years, have increasingly prioritized the rights of criminals over the rights of victims. In Cook County, we have a criminal justice system that too often shields offenders and marginalizes victims. That system routinely returns offenders to the street—including violent offenders—many of whom go on to commit additional violent crimes even while awaiting trial for prior charges. [3]

Recent reporting illustrates the scope of the problem. CWB Chicago found that nearly 20 percent of felony arrests in Chicago involve people already on pretrial release for other cases. Between 2020 and 2025, at least 467 people awaiting trial for felonies while on pretrial release were arrested for murder or attempted murder. A University of Utah law review of Cook County’s bail reforms found that the number of released defendants charged with new crimes increased by 45 percent, and the number charged with new violent crimes increased by 33 percent. These numbers are a reminder that policy should be judged by outcomes, not slogans.[4] [5]

Supporters of Illinois’s SAFE-T Act and similar reforms have been slow to provide transparent, comprehensive data on pretrial release outcomes, even as they circulate favorable but partial reports. The earlier Cook County bail-reform study claimed success largely because the percentage of released defendants who reoffended did not increase.

Yet that framing can conceal a worsening situation when the total number of released defendants rises sharply. The real question is simple: Did more dangerous people end up back on the street? In Cook County, the answer appears to be yes. [6]

We see a similar sleight of hand in debates about migrants who have committed crimes beyond unlawful entry. Opponents of targeted enforcement frequently cite studies showing that immigrants, including those without legal status, may on average be less likely to commit certain crimes than U.S.-born citizens. But averages do not protect victims. The issue in cases like Sheridan Gorman’s is not the average immigrant; it is the specific, identifiable individuals who posed known risks and were not removed or detained and went out and committed violent crimes.[7]

Cook County has become the epicenter of what might fairly be called a criminal industrial complex—a network of special interests that have turned “criminal justice reform” into a cash-rich industry. This complex includes some trial lawyers, advocacy organizations, university-based researchers, consultants, and consent-decree monitors who have a financial stake in narratives that cast criminals as victims and police as perpetrators. The damage to public safety and the costs to taxpayers are staggering. [8]

Mass exoneration machinery is the criminal industrial complex’s golden goose. Under former State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, hundreds of individuals were exonerated in cases linked to alleged police misconduct, even when factual innocence of the underlying crimes was not tested in a full adversarial courtroom process. Since 2008, Chicago has paid more than $1.11 billion in police-related verdicts settlements with another $1 billions in potential settlement costs in remaining current and potential cases brought by the more than 200 individuals Foxx exonerated. [9]

Meanwhile, Chicago continues to lead the nation in murders and nonfatal shootings, including shootings of school-age youth and mass shootings. The city recorded 623 murders in 2024, according to Chicago Police Department year-end figures, and 437 homicides in 2025, the fewest in decades. Even with recent declines, Chicago’s violent-crime burden remains severe, and its neighborhoods continue to bear levels of gun violence far above what residents of nearby suburbs and collar counties experience. [10]

Chicago had 312 more homicides than all its Cook County suburban neighbors despite comparable population and 380 more murders than neighbor counties despite 500,000 fewer residents. If you live in Chicago, you’re 3.3 times more likely to be murdered or shot than in the suburbs and nine times more likely than in the Collar Counties.

Young people bear a disproportionate share of this toll, with hundreds of school‑age children shot in the city each year, while nearby counties report single‑digit numbers of such victims. These stark disparities cannot be explained away by demographics alone.

If you live in Chicago, you are far more likely to be shot or murdered than in surrounding communities. They reflect policy choices, enforcement failures, and a justice system that has too often lost sight of its first duty: protecting innocent people.

Sheridan Gorman’s parents said their daughter’s death “cannot be reduced to a senseless tragedy nor can it be explained in general terms about public safety.” Their words are right. Sheridan’s murder was the result of a criminal justice system that failed her, just as it fails hundreds of Chicagoans who are murdered, wounded, and assaulted each year. A system hollowed out by ideology and captured by special interests is warped by policies that place the comfort of offenders and the careers of activists, consultants, and litigators over the safety of ordinary people. [11]

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Paul Vallas formerly ran the public school systems in Chicago, Philadelphia and the Louisiana Recovery School District. He was a candidate for Mayor of Chicago.