Judge’s Decision on Implementation of Illinois Law to End Cash Bail

In 2022, Illinois was dominated by a controversial law that ended cash bail January 1. In a lawsuit brought together by 60 attorneys from Illinois, a Kankakee County judge will decide if the law is implemented.

In January 2021, the General Assembly approved the Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity Today Act (or SAFE-T Act). It brings about several changes in the state’s criminal justice system. Illinois is the first state to abolish cash bail.

It was met with resistance from large sections of the law enforcement communities statewide who claim the act could be harmful to allow alleged felons back on the streets while they await trial.

R-Dieterich state rep. Adam Niemerg said in November that the SAFE-T Act had been passed without a constitutional amendment.

“We are at a particular point where this goes into effect on Jan. 1, and we got … state attorneys that are highly questioning this particular piece of legislation,” Niemerg spoke for The Center Square “Furthermore, the constitutionality of the measure is very much in question.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker was elected to a second term in November and suggested language changes to clarify any misunderstandings.

“So let us amend the act to make it very explicit,” Pritzker stated this in October. “Those violent criminals that are in jail awaiting trial, that Jan. 1 is not some deadline to let people out.”

Pritzker stated that the SAFE-T Act is designed to accomplish the opposite of what Republicans claim it will.

“One of the purposes of the SAFE-T Act is to keep our neighborhoods safe,” Pritzker said. Pritzker said, “It is to make certain that people who are in awaiting trial and aren’t violent, who may have been convicted of a low-level crime, don’t spend time in jail simply because they don’t have a few hundred.”