Metro East Sun

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed policies that ended Illinois Judges’ ability to set cash bails before a defendant’s first court appearance, a victory for criminal reform and negatively grabbed Republican attention.

“I will be a vote against these Democrat anti-police bills,” Erica Harriss, a Republican candidate, said. “My commitment to voters is that I will consult with police when deciding on legislation that affects them. I will oppose any effort that is predicated upon demonizing our police.”

Interestingly, Pulitzer Center reported the same bill requires the Illinois Law Enforcement and Training Standards Board to maintain data about statewide police misconduct — but will only show it via Freedom of Information Act requests per agency. The center added there are approximately 900 agencies in Illinois.

The ICJIA website states that the SAFE-T Act enacts extensive reform impacting many areas of the criminal justice system, including pre-arrest diversion, policing, pretrial, sentencing, and corrections.

KHQA reported Christopher Sullivan, the chief of police for the city of Aldeo, got indicted for battery and official misconduct, Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigations noted to KHQA.

The most contested aspect of the SAFE-T Act is that it will eliminate cash bail in the state of Illinois. The bill noted it will be “presumed that a defendant is entitled to release on personal recognizance” and may be detained thereafter if they violate certain conditions listed in 725 ILCS 5/110-2.

ACLU reported studies showed people are more likely to take plea deals and plea guilty to crimes they didn’t commit because they couldn’t afford bail.

According to Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow during a speech he gave on July 4th in Naperville, Will County has 640 perpetrators in Will County Jail. On January 1st, all bonds will be extinguished, and they will be eligible for release. 60 of those 640 are charged with murder, and many others are violent offenses.

The State Journal-Register reported that the bill will require all police agencies to have their officers wear body cameras and to be turned on in uniform and responding to a call.

“If that bill [the SAFE-T Act] goes into effect…police officers’ hands will be tied…What you see in Chicago, we’ll have here (Naperville). I won’t be able to hold anybody in jail longer than 90 days if they demand trial, and after at the 90th day, they get out, no matter what crime they committed, and then, if they don’t show up for court, I can’t get a warrant…they’re not going to come back to court…It’s going to be literally the end of days,” State’s Attorney Glasgow said.

The State Journal-Register also reported that an Illinois judge could still decide if a person is a “risk of endangerment” for the community and needs to stay in prison.

Senator John Curran addressed some of the issues with having to find “continued detention” necessary following the initial detention hearing as he said, “The prosecutor has to identify, and the judge has to find that you pose a risk to a particular individual to continue to detain that person,” as opposed to only having to prove a risk to the general public.

The end of cash bail will start on Jan. 1, 2023.

Pritzker defended the SAFE-T Act. One of the reasons he provided for his stance on the issue is the bill would protect criminals without the financial resources that "drug dealers" have and keep them from having to sit in jail for days.