Metro East Sun

House candidate Jennifer Korte is worried the SAFE-T Act provision eliminating cash bail would be dangerous.

"Eliminating cash bail will put violent offenders back on the street," Korte said. "The end result will be more crime and more violence. We need to put policies in place to protect our communities instead of implementing policies that make it easier for criminals to commit crimes.”

Korte (R) is running to represent the 112th House District which includes Edwardsville and Glen Carbon. She'll be running against incumbent Rep. Katie Stuart (D) in the November general election.

"I think we can look at setting more reasonable bail costs, but the purpose of our criminal justice system should be on keeping our communities safe," Korte said. "With that said, dangerous people should not be released from custody and they should have high bail. Our focus should be on the safety of our communities."

Supporters of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act, including the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, point to the legislation as a step toward making the justice system more equitable for minorities. Republicans have called the SAFE-T Act a “de facto defund the police bill" because of the additional regulations it places on police officers. The SAFE-T will eliminate cash bail in Illinois effective Jan. 1 2023, which critics claim will lead to more criminals out on the streets. 

Multiple state's attorneys expressed concern over the legislation at a media briefing in April, according to the Center Square. State Sen. Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg) said that some of the provisions regarding law enforcement are driving people away from the field. “It's been very frustrating to see our law enforcement officers retire early, some of our sheriffs retire early, and our students not wanting to go into the law enforcement field,” Fowler said. “What we’ve seen is when this criminal justice legislation was passed into law, the fact that a lot of the Democrats saw that some of the issues that they may have not seen in the fine print of the legislation, so they see that there are some repeals that need to be made.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently defended the elimination of cash bail, according to The Center Square. "We do not want someone in jail because they were arrested for a low-level crime like shoplifting to be sitting in jail for months or maybe even years," Pritzker said. "At the same time, someone who is a wealthy drug dealer, perhaps accused of murder and arrested, can show up with a suitcase full of money and get out of jail."