By: Matt Rosenberg
What will Illinois look like when the state’s controversial criminal justice reform bill called the SAFE-T Act is fully implemented January 1?
Look to Cook County, which has already crippled its criminal justice system with changes similar to those in the SAFE-T Act.
Too often there, dangerous pretrial detainees set free on low-cash or no-cash bail roam the county and shoot, kill, carjack, rob, burgle, and commit sundry other crimes. Meanwhile the county is on track to exceed 900 homicides for the third year in a row.
Three big mistakes have degraded public safety in Cook County: misuse of bail reform, over-reliance on electronic monitoring, and defining down crime. Now thanks to specific provisions of the SAFE-T Act, the State of Illinois is poised to replicate much of what has gone wrong in Cook County.
The bad results of bail “reform”
Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans instituted bail reform in September 2017 to reduce pretrial detention of low-income defendants who couldn’t afford cash bail. His goal was for bail to be used only when completely necessary, and even then in the least possible amount.
The harm done by that approach is clear. There’s been a growing parade of pretrial defendants out on bond but then charged with new crimes. Add to that: far fewer defendants are showing up for court, and even fewer defendants are being detained before trial.
Quarterly reports from Evans’ office show that by halfway through 2020 nearly 9,500 defendants released before trial had been charged with new offenses. By mid-2022 that number had grown to 15,086. That was 18 percent of defendants set loose before trial.
Of those 15,000-plus alleged crimes by pretrial defendants freed from late 2017 through mid-2022, 2,841 were classified as violent offenses, or “person offenses” such as battery, assault, or child neglect. Another 1,594 crimes were weapons offenses.
Other outcomes are also alarming. Evans’ data shows that by mid-2022, 20 percent of bond court defendants who were granted pretrial freedom from detention failed to appear at subsequent court dates. That rate was much worse than the 9 percent court appearance failure rate after bail reform’s first quarter in late 2017.
Additionally, the percentage of defendants ordered held without cash bail shrank to 4.4 percent of the total by mid-2022 from 8.5 percent in mid-2019.
The bottom line: the Cook County revolving door let too many risky pretrial suspects pass through before facing justice and they went on to earn new charges 4,435 times for violent, “person” or weapons offenses. Including shootings, murders, attempted murders, and criminal sexual assault.
Horror stories tied to the failure of bail reform in Cook County are common.
- A man was released by Cook County courts to electronic monitoring for a gun store burglary and then released from monitoring before being charged with fatally stabbing a drugstore clerk.
- A defendant out on bond before trial for attempted murder was then charged with killing two at a video shoot party.
- A five-time felon out on bond for two weapons charges was then charged with killing two at a house party on the West Side.
- Members of a carjacking crew, including charged suspects out on bond for repeated offenses, were then charged in the killing of a retired firefighter in a South Side carjacking attempt.
- A serial carjacker free on bond killed a young father in Chinatown in a failed carjacking attempt.
- A 17-year-old out on bond before trial on felony gun charges then allegedly carjacked an SUV and slammed into another vehicle, killing 55-year-old Dominga Flores.
- Another defendant out on bail on a felony gun charge was arrested for murdering a man in a gang-related shooting.
- An 18-year-old out on bond for three weapons charges, plus theft and carjacking, was charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery after shooting a Hyde Park bartender walking home after work.
The numbers are lowballed
Yet it’s worse than all that, because the full scope of the bail reform problem is actually unknown.
The 15,000 total crimes – and almost 3,000 violent or “person” crimes – charged to defendants released before trial under Cook County bail reform since late 2017 are likely lowballed. There are two reasons.
First, Evans was found to have jimmied the numbers down dramatically in 2020 by not counting certain types of important new crimes by defendants out on bail.
Second, arrest rates in Chicago are paltry, 12 percent for all crimes last year and 6 percent for major “Index” crimes. Most offenders aren’t even getting caught. The count of Cook County defendants free on bail, but committing new crimes before trial, can’t be accurately known if the vast majority of reported crimes never even result in arrest.
Former 43rd Ward Chicago Alderman Michelle Smith accented the key role of both uncounted crimes by bond court defendants and miniscule arrest rates in a recent letter. Smith – who was a Democratic Committeeman in her ward – urged supporters to reject claims that bail reform works, and to vote against retaining Evans as a circuit court judge.
But the movement is in the opposite direction. Illinois will soon follow the lead of Cook County. Come January 1, pretrial detention of new defendants will be sharply limited and cash bail will be abolished statewide under the Illinois SAFE-T Act.
What’s alarming is how much further the SAFE-T Act goes. Even Cook County officials admit they’ll have to let more defendants out on January 1 and are scrambling to petition judges to keep some of them behind bars.
Imposing electronic monitoring worst-practices
As fewer defendants were being detained because of Cook County’s reduced use of cash bail, judges began to add to the ranks of the county’s electronic monitoring (EM) programs. The pretense of requiring electronic monitoring provided political cover as more and more emphasis was put on turning defendants loose before trial. As a result, defendants on EM charged with violent or weapons crimes grew from 49 percent of the total Cook County EM population in mid-2018 to 76 percent by mid-2022.
Dissent to this risky practice came even from within Cook County’s government. Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart earlier this year and in 2020 warned other officials that too many charged murderers were being released before trial to electronic monitoring. He also voiced concern this year that three quarters of EM defendants let go before trial were charged with violent or weapons crimes.
The resulting mayhem has been too extensive to fully catalog here, but consider these telling failures of electronic monitoring in Cook County.
- A scofflaw EM defendant recently tried to steal a vehicle in Chicago that had been left running. The owner latched onto the roof and hung on a wild ride until the driver was seen fleeing while still wearing his ankle bracelet.
- A man at large on bond for three pending weapons charges and for escaping electronic monitoring, was finally taken into custody on a new weapons charge and put by a Cook County judge on…..electronic monitoring. Again. Of course he should have been home-bound on EM but – imagine this – was instead charged with fatally shooting a woman at a block party.
- A man with four prior felony convictions and a new charge for a shooting was out on bond and on electronic monitoring, and then was charged with killing a relative’s boyfriend.
- A woman out on bond for attempted murder of a police officer was charged with escaping from electronic monitoring last year – and then again last week. The ankle bracelet died this last time around so that’s not indicative of ill intent. But the question arises: how is she even out on bond to begin with, considering the charge?
- Then there was the EM defendant out on bond before trial in a felony weapons case who admitted to threatening a judge via Zoom chat during a hearing. He was charged with threatening a public official and finally held without bond.
Cook County residents pay the price for the fuzzy thinking of officials who believe electronic monitoring is a cure-all for higher-risk pretrial defendants from whom the public should be better protected.
Once again, state lawmakers seem intent on taking the worst practices of Cook County one step further, through the SAFE-T Act. It gives EM defendants 48 hours to be missing before authorities can declare them noncompliant and pursue them. Plenty of time to intimidate or harm a victim or other witness. Plenty of time to flee. No matter.
SAFE-T also gives EM defendants eight-hour breaks from monitoring twice weekly for personal business known as “essential movement.” By April of this year, some two dozen EM defendants in Cook County had been arrested for alleged crimes committed while on those special breaks. Charges included weapons and drug offenses, serial shoplifting, and armed robbery.
State law mandating 48 hours free roaming for EM scofflaws and 16 hours of free time-off weekly for EM defendants – most of them already facing weapons or violent crime charges – cannot possibly be in the public interest. Or the interests of witnesses who may be intimidated or harmed by them while defendants are unmonitored.
Defining crime down
Cook County has lost its focus on public safety not just because bail reform and electronic monitoring have gone wrong. The sweeping dysfunction in criminal justice also results from mismanagement by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. She has defined crime down.
State law sets the bar for felony theft at $300. But in Cook County, Foxx raised it to $1,000. This has emboldened retail thieves who now operate in teams so each member can steal just under the limit. Several busts have shown that the retail theft rings plaguing downtown Chicago and suburban mall retailers are part of organized criminal enterprises.
And consistent with a 2011 ordinance approved by Cook County Board members and Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Foxx has not prosecuted immigration scofflaws. Millions of Chicagoland immigrants have played by the rules but Cook County welcomes those who don’t with no consequences.
In addition, Foxx has increasingly sidestepped prosecution of violent criminals. It is couched in the language of protecting defendants from ill-supported prosecutions. That’s a worthy goal but many of the cases give pause.
Some examples: After Chicago Police arrested a man for a barbershop murder and presented strong evidence, Foxx’s office declined to prosecute until the same man was charged anew in an October 2022 triple shooting.
Her office declined to prosecute any of the three men charged by police for starting a Near West Side shootout in August despite supporting statements from a witness and video evidence. And Foxx’s office also declined to prosecute charged suspects in a fatal Schaumburg stabbing and a Chicago West Side shootout.
The message: crime pays.
The SAFE-T Act also finds ways to cut breaks to alleged criminals charged with serious crimes, again taking a page from Cook County’s botched experiment in criminal justice. For example, it has defined down what constitutes first-degree murder. Previously, if you started a shootout that directly led to fatalities, you could have been charged with murder. Not anymore. At least twice now in Chicago men who started shootouts that ended with people dead – in December of last year and again on January 1 of this year – have escaped murder charges as a result.
The Act also cuts slack to court-date no-shows. Previously, an arrest warrant would be issued for a no-show’s arrest after missing an initial court date. Now, they just get a toothless “notice to appear.”
In addition, under SAFE-T, pretrial detention requires proof by prosecutors of “willful intent to flee,” but a past failure to appear for another court date cannot be used as evidence of that risk.
It’s as if defense attorneys rewrote the statewide rules for prosecution – Cook County defense attorneys.
Bad policy hastens prosecutors, cops to quit
Cook County’s Chief Judge and State’s Attorney together have presided over sharp growth in crimes by defendants released before trial, an increasingly high-risk population on electronic monitoring and a stark defining down of crime. One result is increasingly demoralized prosecutors who are quitting in droves.
But it’s not just Cook County prosecutors who are voting with their feet against bad policy that undercuts those charged with enforcing public safety. It’s also police statewide, reacting to the Illinois SAFE-T Act.
The legislation makes state decertification complaints against cops anonymous and deep-sixes required sworn affidavits for local misconduct complaints. It creates a statewide database to promote decertification probes of police but requires no disclosure of sentencing decisions by judges and prosecutors which may erode public safety badly.
The Illinois Association of the Chiefs of Police reports that based on surveys completed by 239 Illinois departments, officer resignations jumped 65 percent in 2021 versus 2020. The SAFE-T Act was finalized in early 2021.
You can’t fool prosecutors and you can’t fool cops. Since the passage of the SAFE-T Act, the traditional criminal justice ethos has been flipped upside down.
A crime-filled future
As the statewide abolition of cash bail takes effect January 1, what will be the net effect of the SAFE-T Act? It won’t just be the harm from provisions reflecting misguided policies already unfolding in Cook County. It will also be a growing sense of public disorder, unease, and lawlessness.
More and more in Chicagoland come reports of targeted victims engaging in armed self-defense. Chicago neighborhoods continue to hire unarmed private security forces. How far a step is it for those who are more well-off to employ legally-armed guards like politicians do, while the rest of us are left to fend for ourselves? Where exactly it will all end isn’t clear.
Yet if Illinois does not get a firmer grip on criminal justice, the state may be irreparably damaged. The responsibility will sit squarely on the shoulders of state legislators – and the engineers of chaos in Cook County.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- SAFE-T Act targets cops for online transparency, but not criminals
- Some Prosecutors Now Assessing Which Pre-Trial Detainees To Release On January 1, Contradicting Claim That SAFE-T Act Not Retroactive
- Five more things wrong with Illinois’ SAFE-T Act
- Threatening Illinoisans’ safety: Six major flaws in the SAFE-T Act’s end to cash bail
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Great article Matt. You have detailed the disasters of the Safe-T Act from the top on down. I’m so disappointed with Timothy Evans, the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. I just hope our state is salvageable.
Eliminating cash bail is an excellent way to virtue signal to the rest of the world. Never mind about the collateral damage wrought on victimized residents.
Sick social experiments conducted by liberals are being inflicted on innocent Illinoisans.
How does SAFE-T protect the public? Who are these legislators working for, anyway? This is obscene.
Your safety was not a consideration in the SAFE-T Act and your support of our existing criminal justice system makes you a racist. That’s why we are where we are today.
The SAFE-T Act isn’t meant to protect the public. The E in SAFE-T stands for Equity. The legislature decided that equity is more important than public safety. Because public safety means putting minorities in jail. The E in Equity releases criminals from jail without bail and reducing the punishment for behaviors previously classified as serious crimes.
Mostly what I see is a glaring question followed by an equally glaring answer:
What are jails and prisons for?
CRIMINALS
There can be no safety for the law-abiding citizens without this concept: from apprehension to trial and conviction. SAVE OUR CITIZENS FROM MAYHEM!
Jails and prisons are for convicted criminals or accused criminals that a judge believes should be held until trial. Innocent until proven guilty. SAVE OUR CITIZENS FROM JACK BOOTED THUGS LIIKE JANINE THAT WANT TO LOCK UP INNOCENT PEOPLE.
Reading Matt Rosenberg’s latest article, once again laden with documentation, cites and governmental statistics, he condenses the issues confronting Chicago and Cook County for all to see. However, far too often seeing is not believing as demagoguery replaces sentient thought and honest exposition. The issues confronting the people of Chicago and Cook County are debilitating. For those in high crime, poverty stricken, failing school areas, it is difficult to comprehend what their daily lives are. Gangs, drugs, murder, open hostility on police ….. it is beyond the basic understanding of a civil society how anyone function on any level in… Read more »
Good article Matt in highlighting what is to come. Doom and gloom continues. How much further does Illinois have to sink before the voters wise up?
“the engineers of chaos in Cook County” A completely accurate assessment of the situation, highlighting the “democrats’” intentional efforts to destroy our country from within. The Safe-T Act only ensures the safety of criminals from prosecution and punishment for their crimes, while further incentivizing them to re-offend. “democrat” engineering of the chaos creates an atmosphere of fear and anxiety for the public at large, which then gives the leftists opportunities to seize more power and control. It’s a vicious cycle of crime that starts and ends at the ballot box, wherein the corruption of “democrats” in power commit election fraud… Read more »
The progressive wants fewer minorities – specifically black people – in jail. Many black people have friends, families, neighbors that are either incarcerated or involved in the criminal justice system. They feel that the system is ‘out to get them’ and is designed to punish the behavior of minorities i.e. systemic racism. So they change the laws to let mostly minorities out of jail. this is not some conspiracy theory, this is exactly what the Black Caucus said when they passed the bill. The E in SAFE-T means equity.
Outstanding article highlighting the continued errors of Illinois politicians.
Thank you for the excellent report, MR. I used to organize for pro-life electoral activism in Chicagoland, in the ’90s, while a certain someone was another kind of “community organizer” there. Chicago became a major hub for Marxists long ago, in the 19th Century and has continued to be a “hub city” for so many kinds of corruption along with that core of Satanic evil. Yet, there are many God-fearing people in the city and greater Chicagoland. Enduring passion and diligence applied, we may see a turnaround along with New York and California. But a problem in Illinois is that… Read more »
Matt – you present a very thorough and insight discussion of this topic. Nobody is immune from the problems that have, and will continue, to impact us locally and on the broader scale. Your book “What Next, Chicago?” offers an in-depth analysis of the many breakdowns at the local level. This article complements your book with yet another example of how things can go so wrong so quickly. Thank you for keeping us informed. I look forward to your next book!
This Act Is an unmitigated disaster. People have died because of its implementation. Excellent summary.
the powers that be don’t care. it’s part of the plan.
Maybe, but I already doubt a politician/s who are for this type of lawless get theirs. They get rob, mugged, beaten, shot at, car jacked or their home burglared. Sometimes it’s politicians who need to feel the pain too.
Crazy people buying into what the Dems are trying to sell.
I’m hoping even the Dems are figuring this fiasco out
Not one bit of this detailed piece will ever make it to the Mainstream press. A timid press that somehow fails to call out the politicians that shove this nonsense called THE SAFE T ACT ON INNOCENT VICTIMS. The only people who are safe are those violent criminals who in essence are being protected by politicians who have sold their souls for votes, although some say it’s pure ignorance. A few centuries ago THE GREAT ROMAN ORATOR CICERO ONCE SAID “THE CLOSER THE COLLAPSE OF AN EMPIRE THE CRAZIER IT’S LAWS. THIS ONE IS PURE NUTS. The numbers do not… Read more »
Wait until those reporters and editors come in physical face to face situations where they become victims of the crimes for once. What a great way for them for once in their lives having to face reality.
Bring it on
They will blame it on conservatives and President Trump. Democrats never do anything wrong or harmful to the citizens. It’s in their playbook.
now and Chicago, or face annihilation.
It is no more complicated than this.
The politicians in Cook County and Chicago are clearly playing to this voting block. The criminal class.
My family and I have
completely written off Chicago. We will never visit.
Yep. We even quit doctoring up there. We’re in search of a new facility
It is unbelievable that anyone would dare venture into Chicago or much or Cook County.
What else is there to say??? It is mind-boggling how idiotic the politicos in Illinois are when it comes to crime (and just about everything else). It is almost as though they have set out on a goal of destroying the state. The only other explanation for the decisions made and laws passed is sheer stupidity…oh wait…there is another explanation…the politicos love being in power to enrich themselves and their families, and too bad about the chumps who elect them to office.
Three words: Barack Hussain O’Bama
Frightening story! It just clarified the horror stories we hear on the other side of the lake, about how Chicago continues spiraling down into a black hole. The sad part is the ones making the decisions for leniency. How can this judicial system clean house? Trump should have built the walls around Chicago to protect the innocence outside of that city!! Something HAS to change QUICKLY and in a BIG WAY!
Today we had a terrible reminder of impotent systems of justice. Darrell Brooks was found guilty on all charges for for killing 6 people (including an 8 year old boy) and injuring 60 others in the 2021 Waukesha Christmas Parade. For over 20 years he had had a string of violent battery, domestic violence, sex offender and gun crimes. Time and again he was given light sentences, probation or time served. Following this case one wonders why he had not been taken off the street a decade ago. It was all so predictable and policies as the SAFE-T Act will… Read more »
Never saw first hand a city commit suicide like Chicago. Saw Detroit do it from arms length, and it was ugly.
If you value your life and livelihood, get out.
Thank you, Matt for your precise informative and educational reporting.
Crime is the number one issue in Illinois, and the controversial criminal Justice reform bill the SAFE-T Act, sift on criminals and tough on police, is little to do with safety.
Getting rid of the acting administration:
:Pritzker, Lightfoot, Evans must be our priority as voters, in case to have a positive changes in a Justice system in Chicago.
Hope more people will vote RED.
It seems to be the fashion to name legislation for the exact opposite of the effect it will have: the Inflation Reduction Act which increased inflation, the American Rescue Plan which prints “money” and wastes it, leading to recession–and now this “SAFE-T Act” which will greatly reduce people’s safety. And when people claim to support “equity” and “justice,” you can be pretty sure their views are toxic!
Patriot act
Affordable Care Act
Add this foolish legislation to the proposed Amendment 1. Oh, lest we forget House Bill 3447 which waits in the Senate having already passed in the House. You know, the one that decriminalizes possession of enough Fentanyl to kill 1500 people. Our leaders are ignoring their most important duty. Public Safety is on the ropes in Illinois…
excellent reporting
thank you for this informative piece
Think about this before you vote. If you live in Cook County you know how bad things are and it’s only going to get worse under Pritzkers Safe T Bill . He needs to go and we need representation that will repeal this Purge Act
Buy a gun folks. Learn how to use it. You don’t have to be a defenseless victim.
Depressing facts and a foreboding future. Unfortunately, it seems Illinois is loaded with drones who vote party over principle. How did this happen? Maybe you should do a piece on Cognitive dissonance–not that the people affected would bother to read it!
I talked to somebody today who thought the Safe-T act was only going to be law in Chicago. People don’t pay any attention until it comes to their doorstep. He had also never heard of Amendment 1. But he is going to vote. The Democrats aren’t ruining this state, the Uninformed are ruining this state.
Absolutely correct Marie. But how does one reach these people?
By the incessant bombardment of political commercials, the only issue Democrats feel important is “reproductive rights”! Anyone that feels otherwise, is “Extreme”!
Never mind inflation, crime, taxes, safety, failed schools and failed experiments in social justice, that equals extreme. Society is doomed, if JB is reelected and the misnamed Safety act is enacted. Thanks again Matt for the clear and precise reporting!
I recently had a JB Democrat tell me that Bailey in no way seemed like an extremist.
Matt right on point again with even greater details and hard data. Vallas, Bailey, and a host of others are probably too late to save the day. I want them to come in and do that but these are self inflicted wounds created by Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois voters who feel sorry for these criminals. The affordable bail and everything else that comes with it is a direct result of zero opposing viewpoints and millions of people voting for these incompetent people. Maybe Ray Lopez can ride into town on the Latino Horse. Fred Flintstone has the entire state… Read more »
Matt’s article is particularly comprehensive this week. But, I really really hate to say this. One would expect reality to set in. These outcomes are not unexpected and you can see them happening every day. And yet there is no reality setting in. If there were, the politicians who put these policies in place would be voted out. That is not happening in Illinois. Maybe other places, but not Illinois. What I hate to say is that the voters deserve these outcomes… these are the outcomes they have voted for and continue to vote for. I am sad, but not… Read more »
Absolutely! It is time for some of those liberal suburban counties in Chicagoland become subject to what they have and do continue to vote for. In so many ways I hope it goes into effect with no changes whatsoever.
I
unless Illinois wises up and gets rid of the globalists running the state (and Chicago) this will just get worse as they ramp up efforts to destroy the fundamentals of society.
Schools, religious institutions and particularly community policing are their targets.
These, and land and gun ownership are key obstacles to their plans. They will NEVER stop until they achieve them; the only hope is through you, the voter. It is no longer about ‘politics as usual’.
This is about the future of the nation.
Getting rid of Pritzker and Lightfoot must be the first order of affairs…
Can only hope the diehards who hang on the Governors insane defense of it will honestly look at this before they vote. Alarming to say the least. Crime is the number one issue in Illinois, and this act has little to do with safety.
Very good article with great data
This is nuts it will only get worse before it gets better under the current administration
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein
Thx Matt, for another essay on what even a non-Einstein knows is insane. Vote straight Red to save yourselves!
Those who promote this kind of “justice” system don’t take the victims into account. They won’t change until they themselves are the victims of crime. The first role of government is to protect the population from each other. Chicago and other cities are not doing that, and they don’t seem to be making citizen safety a priority. It seems that we have a justice system based on your demographic. If you check off the right boxes, you are free to go.
When the result is harm to innocent people, what sort of person aims for that goal? There is no analysis of this law in which the average citizen and taxpayer benefit. None. If I’m wrong, please educate me. The state not only has the huge living lab that is Chicago, it can also draw on similar evidence from other comparable locations. There is no scenario from any of these places that shows an increase in quality of life. The evidence is right there. No one claim ignorance. That leaves another option. Most of you know that. The people doing this… Read more »
People who firmly believe that the state reigns supreme and should always hold the power. Not the individual. Not the family, religion, following the rule of law, respect for others, respect for private property, this is one big cry baby symptom of the leftist Marxist mentality. Need to find someone to blame and burn it all down because it isn’t fair. End game for them is frighteningly clear, complete and total control of you, and your family, and your way of life. Total control. They know what is best for you. Not you. This is what they believe. Power is… Read more »
Shocking details that every voter STATEWIDE should consider when voting…not only for governor…but down-ballot offices, as well. It’s time to restore public safety throughout Illinois.
Thank you for an eye-opening article. Six percent arrest rate for major crime, eh? Not good. Democrats have long loved criminals. James Q. Wilson tried to set them straight back in 1975: “Wicked people exist. Nothing avails except to set them apart from innocent people. And many people, neither wicked nor innocent, but watchful, dissembling and calculating of their opportunities, ponder our reaction to wickedness as a cue to what they might profitably do. We have trifled with the wicked, made sport of the innocent, and encouraged the calculators.”
Matt shows the evidence is overwhelming that Cook County’s misguided policies, having been enacted into law by the state legislature, will bring even further chaos to Illinois. I just wonder if there’s any way to undo the harm that has been done. It’s a depressing and frightening situation, that will most likely lead to even more Illinoisans fleeing the state. Ronald Reagan’s memorable line “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help” still serves as a useful reminder, especially today. How right he was, although certainly not in every circumstance. An attorney friend recently said that when violent crime… Read more »
“Time to wake up!”
No, time to leave.
Preston, I think you’re spot on. Getting Evans, Lightfoot, Preckwinkle & Pritzker out of there is one thing, but even when/if that takes place, the reversal to where it was 10-15 years ago will take a l-o-n-g time. The proverbial $%&* will hit the fan when the mobile criminals get a foothold or start plying their trade in suburbs that have some money. That’s when–mark my words–you’ll have vigilante justice, chaos in the streets. People who pay $20K in real estate taxes annually to specifically get AWAY from the crime will not put up with that. I wouldn’t.
Thank you for a well thought out and eloquently put to words article. Many things trouble me. Do we really know the numbers? How many infractions are not reported? Do criminals vote? Do criminals pay taxes? Christmas is just around the corner. I have gifts to buy. With inflation and the economy things will be tight. Should I consider a trip to the city and just help myself to merchandise? It appears to me the road we have been on is one of ideology. Let’s not offend the criminals. An altruist attitude of governing is rampant. It’s time for government… Read more »
Zero incentive to visit Chicago already. Not that Springfield is too much better. This is a bad idea
Voters in Illinois will reap the fruits of their choices. The exodus of businesses and taxpayers will intensify.
Illinois has the highest unemployment in the nation. The chickens will slowly come to roost upon those that destroyed one of the greatest cities and states. Until then my advice is to GET OUT NOW.😪😪
Good Advice. Unfortunately, only 1% will act upon it each year. That is why the collapse is taking so long. So long as 99% remain each year, the tax base can still absorb the debt of those that left (for at least several more years).
This article should be required reading of every Illinois citizen. If it were, this horrible act would not be allowed to take effect. Thank you for your efforts to educate Illinois residents on what will inevitably come to pass in their county unless this Act is significantly reformed or better yet scrapped.
Why are you still in Illinois? The simply awful public schools that are run for the benefit of the teachers (not students) The high crime rates The high unemployment (when compared to other Midwest states) The insanely high state taxes and debt The way below average home appreciation If plans or action were being taken to address the problems, the argument could be made to remain in Illinois, however all these problems are being ignored by Chicago and Springfield. I’ll assume you are staying for either a well-paying job or family reasons. Won’t you feel rather foolish when that well-paying… Read more »
Don’t forget “but I’ll miss the food”!
Bogus SafeT Act pushed thru early morning by IL political class, without much input from non public union taxpayers or our police….and the pols probably didn’t even understand most of the SafeT Act. The usual from IL pols.
No more….not taking it any more,