The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld the nation's first statewide cashless bail law.
Following Tuesday's decision, the county court system has a 60-day window to implement the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act, passed in 2021 by the Democratic Party supermajority in Springfield.
The 5-2 ruling by the state's highest court overturned a Kankakee County judge's 2022 ruling that the Pre-Trial Fairness Act, the provision of the SAFE-T Act that ends cashless bail in Illinois, is unconstitutional.
On Sept. 18, 2023, the Land of Lincoln will become the first state to abolish cash bail entirely. (RELATED: Chicago Teens Kill Baby With Stolen Car Last Week, Still No Serious Charges)
Some law enforcement leaders already say they're bracing for more crime, as Fox News reports:
Under the new law, judges across Illinois will not require those charged with a crime to post bail in order to be released from jail while they await trial, unless the judge determines them a threat to the public or a flight risk.
Sheriff Jeff Bullard of Jefferson County said law enforcement and attorneys will be the ones who bear the brunt of these changes.
“We did our job. We arrested them, incarcerated them,” Bullard told Fox News, “and then the state's attorney makes the argument that they should be remanded for trial, and the judge, based on the SAFE-T Act guidelines, says, ‘Now I'm forced to let them go.'”
“That's going to increase crime victim frustration … and we share that frustration with them,” he said.
Sheriff Bullard had more to say to Newsmax:
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What’s the big deal, they already do that for the criminals in the blm and antifa.
See crime rise in IL
Crime in Chicago is as bad as in LA. and NYC. Thank demoncRATS for this and the huge increase in “gun purchases”. Criminals do their dirty deeds not expecting and opposition. The more guns in the public’s hands the more opposition. Head shots are better than “center mass” folks. .
Lock n load.