Under the Safe-T-Act, Illinois became the first state to eliminate cash bail. Critics claimed the change would make the streets unsafe.
Now, six months after the some of the law’s changes took effect, WGN Investigates spoke with experts and prosecutors to gain a better of understanding of the new system that determines who goes free and who stays behind bars, and what impact that’s had on public safety.
“We knew all along the fearmongering associated with the Pre-Trial Fairness Act would not bear itself out,” said Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
Deciding who goes free and who remains behind bars while awaiting trial has always been a joint exercise between a prosecutor and a judge, with a defense attorney almost always arguing for leniency.
What changed statewide last September was the removal of cash as a consideration.
Instead, judges were ordered to consider a defendant’s perceived threat and flight risk. But some non-violent crimes including burglary and retail theft are – on their own – non-detainable.
“The law has actually worked out fairly well,” said DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin. “It’s nowhere near as bad as the original law.”
“There was a real concern violent criminals were not going to be able to be detained pre-trial,” Berlin said.
CWB Chicago has reported two people were charged with murder, attempted murder, or trying to shoot someone this year while on felony pretrial release.
But experts said it’s early to tell if those cases are outliers or the norm.
“The important thing to recognize is that happens regardless of what decision was made,” said David Olsen, of the Loyola Center for Criminal Justice.
He is in the early stages of studying the impact of pre-trial release throughout the state.
“When we send people to prison for lengthy periods of time, there are some who when released will continue to commit criminal activity,” he said. “So we can’t just look at one brief time of pre-trial release and assume that’s the only time we should be concerned about.”
