An Illinois judge said he planned to rule by the end of this month on a lawsuit challenging the state’s landmark SAFE-T Act criminal justice overhaul that includes eliminating the setting of cash bail for those accused of crimes to be released from jail.
A Kankakee County judge heard arguments last week in lawsuits brought by several prosecutors and sheriffs around the state against the measure pushed by Democrats who control the Illinois General Assembly. The elimination of cash bail is set to take effect Jan. 1, which would end a practice that critics say penalizes the poor.
Kankakee County State’s Attorney James Rowe argued the law was too broad to meet so-called “single subject rule “of the Illinois Constitution. He said it also violated a constitutional provision that says “all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties,” insisting that Illinois judges should be allowed to set cash bail.
“The legislature, again, has put their hands on your gavel,” Rowe told Judge Thomas Cunnington.
Darren Kinkead of the Illinois attorney general’s office argued that the “sufficient sureties” passage bestows a right on criminal defendants, not sheriffs and prosecutors.
“The real dispute here is a policy dispute, not a legal dispute,” Kinkead said.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports the judge aimed to hand down a decision by Dec. 28.
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After months of debate and numerous changes to the final product, the SAFE-T Act in Illinois is set to abolish cash bail beginning on Jan. 1, pending the outcome of the challenge. Recent revisions to the controversial legislation were approved by the Illinois Senate and the House, and Pritzker's office announced he had signed the legislation earlier this month.
The amendments focused largely on clarifying language on several fronts, including whether defendants detained prior to Jan. 1 will be released once the legislation goes into effect, and making clear which crimes would qualify for pretrial detention.
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Illinois' Senate Democratic Caucus said the clarifications to the bill were made in "collaboration with law enforcement, states attorneys and other stakeholders."
The bill passed largely on a party-line vote in both chambers, with Republicans still voicing opposition to the final make-up of the legislation.
Here's what we know about the process if cash bail is eliminated.
