CHICAGO—Following Chicago’s most violent weekend of the year, Cook County’s chief judge Timothy Evans defended his bail reform against criticisms, saying it did not contribute to the continued crime wave. During the Fourth of July weekend (between Friday midnight and Tuesday early morning), 22 people were killed and 91 injured. So far, the city has seen 380 homicides in 2021, slightly higher than the same period in 2020—the pandemic year that saw a sharp murder surge in Chicago and other U.S. cities. When confronted at a Tuesday press conference, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said much of the blame should be directed at the court system, which keeps sending violent offenders back into the community. He cited a Chicago Tribune analysis that found the number of violent suspects released on electronic monitoring ballooned from hundreds four years ago to thousands this year. By mid-May, over 90 suspects charged with murder were …