Outgoing Chief Judge Casey Costigan says the 11th Judicial Circuit's championing of progressive approaches to the criminal justice system is on the list of things he's proud of.
Costigan retires Oct. 16 after 20 years on the bench and a four-year term as the five-county circuit's administrative head. As chief judge, he oversees the judiciary in McLean, Livingston, Logan, Woodford and Ford counties while still presiding over McLean County's juvenile court.
McLean County's drug court recently celebrated a milestone, marking 20 years and 200 graduates. The problem-solving court — which serves as a alternative to traditional probation and prison for people whose charges stem from a substance use disorder — includes rigorous requirements including treatment, drug testing and mandatory court appearances.
"We may have a situation to where there's an individual who's had some problems in their past," Costigan said on WGLT's Sound Ideas, "but yet, is not a danger to society [and] does need help, for instance, with substances. And a referral to a specialty treatment court may be an appropriate referral."
Costigan is among the McLean County judges who've overseen the drug court over its two decades so far. It catalyzed similar recovery-oriented courts for people with mental illness, families struggling with substance use and a circuit-wide veterans treatment court. The county is weighing the possibility of adding a specialty court for young adults, a group identified by the county's Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and Behavioral Health Coordinating Council as a population who could benefit from specialized support.
"You may also have an individual with no prior criminal history, who you would look at and say, this person's a danger to the public as we move forward," Costigan said. "That type of person may need to be removed from society for a period of time to go ahead and keep society safe."
That is a calculation judges make every day, he said.
"You need a good, common-sense judge with discretion to be able to... look at the circumstances and say, this is what's appropriate under these circumstances."
Perception, discretion and getting the full picture
The results of two recent McLean County court cases point to the tension perceived in judicial discretion, to which state law sometimes gives nearly unlimited deference.
On Sept. 17, one defendant pleaded guilty to skimming $150,000 from the nonprofit he led. He accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to probation, provided he pay the money back.
A few days later, another defendant who admitted he stole several hundred dollars and some jewelry from a Bloomington church was sent to prison for 12 years, according to a report in the Bloomington Pantagraph.
The first litigant is white; the second is Black. The first had a top shelf criminal defense attorney; the second, a public defender.
"You can look at a circumstance, not only in the legal profession but in a lot of professions, and look at it from an outsider's view without having all the facts and circumstances before you and say, 'This doesn't look right. This looks unfair,'" Costigan said.
"The judges who would have handled those would have had background information on everybody," he said. "They would have had a full set of facts and circumstances presented to them, and they would have had the law available to them. And I'm sure that they made the best decision possible that they could have made with the information that they had before them."
Indeed, the first defendant had no criminal record and long-standing, stable ties to McLean County. The second had multiple prior convictions for similar offenses in another jurisdiction before coming to Bloomington-Normal, where he struggled with homelessness and pretty quickly got into trouble. The two men were sentenced by different judges.
"And we don't compare cases," Costigan said. "We deal with what's in front of us. We take the law that we have, we take the circumstances as we know them to be, and we make the best decision we possibly can. A lot of times the public doesn't have all that information."
Costigan said in his 20 years on the bench, the courts have made steps to demystify the legal system and increase transparency.
"While I'm complimentary of the public and especially the reporters who handle the courthouse, you don't always have the room you need to fully report what might happen in an entire day hearing in one article. That's understandable," he said, "and it's understandable that the public may not completely understand things to the full extent that we heard in court at the time."
Opening most courtrooms to press cameras and microphones [they are restricted in juvenile cases] was something Costigan saw happen in real time. And as chief judge, he's aimed to be as available to the media as possible.
"If the public has an interest in the case, the courtroom doors are always open. They can come down and see what happens. They can look at court files, with the exception of sealed material. They can investigate and come up to speed in what's going on in the courts," he said. "But the judges can't just go out and talk about cases. That is an inappropriate role for the judge to go out and say, 'This is why I did what I did.'"
Statewide public defender
The state's public defense system is in the process of implementing reform for the first time in decades. Costigan worked on the transition team, despite having mixed feelings about the legislation.
Primarily, he questions how the state will keep its promise to send resources to smaller counties, which struggle to attract lawyers and may not have a single fulltime salary dedicated to public defense, never mind social workers, paralegals and investigators.
That's a win, Costigan said, provided the state can continue to pay for it.
"Nobody wants somebody to be on unequal footing in their defense because they can't afford resources, can't afford experts," he said.
Whether the state can pay for it or not, the law passed. It's happening. And Costigan said judges don't weigh in on whether a law should or should not be.
The statewide public defender will be appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court by January.
