(The Center Square— A full year after the state ended cash bail, a suburban county attorney says the law has been “an abject failure” for his county.
Illinois ended cash bail statewide in September 2023 after a lawsuit challenging the law was dismissed by the Illinois Supreme Court. The Pretrial Fairness Act is part of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity Today, or SAFE-T, Act.
McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said data in his county doesn’t show what advocates promised.
“There was an increase in crime among those on remand, by 30% compared to those on cash bail,” Kenneally told The Center Square.
Last month, CWBChicago found that nearly 20% of people arrested and charged with crimes in Chicago had already been remanded for another pending criminal case.
According to CWB’s analysis of court records, between July 1 and September 12, 12% of felony cases filed in Chicago were against people already in pretrial detention for another case. Another 6.1% of criminal cases were filed against people in pre-trial detention. That means 18.1%, almost one in five new felony cases, were filed against someone with an active criminal case.
By comparison, only 8.5% of defendants facing new charges were in violation of bail during the same period before Illinois ended cash bail.
Unlike proponents of the Pretrial Fairness Act, who said the law would reduce the prison population, Kenneally said he found the opposite in his county.
“On the eve of the SAFE-T Act, on September 17, 2023, there were 204 people in the McHenry County Jail, and on September 15, 2024, which is exactly one year before leap year, there were 216 people. at the McHenry County Jail,” Kenneally said.
The findings didn’t stop there. Kenneally said there was a 280% increase in the number of criminal defendants failing to appear for their hearings. But one area he highlighted with the end of cash bail is the reduced compensation fund for victims.
“If people are no longer required to pay money, that means that even if you say, ‘Hey, you have to pay a victim back this amount of money’ … very little of that money gets paid. ” he said.
The Illinois Network for Pretrial Fairness said Kenneally used percentages to inflate the data.
“The actual difference between the number of people charged with new crimes under pre-trial release and the number of people released after posting bail is 17,” the group said. “Just because the total number of people charged with new crimes is small, the percentage increase seems large.”
They say Kenneally’s analysis of the prison population “suffers from the same flaw in that the increase is minimal – only 12 people, which amounts to a 5.5% increase.”
“He further claims that there has been a 280% increase in failed appearance attempts, which sounds alarming – if true,” the group said. “In fact, the number of failed warrants in McHenry County has actually decreased by 42%, from 1,055 to 616.”
They say the law allows arrest warrants to be issued if a judge decides it is necessary to bring someone to justice because he or she does not want to return voluntarily.
They point to information from the Center for Criminal Justice, which they say shows that Illinois’ system “of basing pretrial release decisions on public safety rather than wealth is working.”
However, CWB found that Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ office, which apparently uses the same methodology as the Illinois Network for Pretrial Fairness, artificially underestimated the failure to appear under cashless bail.
Evans’ office publishes data weekly dashboard which currently shows that 87% of defendants “have not received a warrant for failure to appear while on pretrial release.” It says that the number “87% [are] In accordance with the scheduled hearing dates.”
By comparison, when cash bail ended last year, the misdemeanor compliance rate was just under 80%. So, at first glance, it appears that compliance is better without cash bail.
However, the numbers are not apples-to-apples.
Under the current system, judges often must notify defendants who miss court dates by mail before an order can be issued.
As a result, the number of people who fail to appear is substantially higher than the 88% who ultimately end up in warrant status. But because – like these people – they received a postcard instead of a warrant, the chief judge considers them “in compliance with the scheduled court dates” even though they were not.
Earlier this month, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez wrote a letter to the Chicago Tribune stating that more than 70% of suspects failed to appear for at least one court date during the first 50 weeks of cashless bail.
In a news release, suburban state’s attorney Kenneally said the problem with the law ending cash bail is that it “denies county judges, elected by the communities affected by the crimes alleged, the discretion to detain defendants charged with most crimes, regardless.” how risky.”
“You don’t have to be a professor of criminology to understand that requiring judges in all circumstances to release high-risk suspects pending trial is a misguided and unreasonable policy,” Kenneally said. “A policy that stems from the ideology of a privileged group of advocates who dictate criminal law in Illinois, overriding common sense.”
The Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice has countered this.
“People alleged to pose a danger to others or a flight risk may be detained after robust, individualized hearings,” the group said. “Judges preside over those hearings and decide who will be remanded in custody and who will be released.”
You can contact CWBChicago and submit anonymous tips by email: news@cwbchicago.com
