Illinois state’s attorneys demand changes to no-bail law – Wirepoints

By: Matt Rosenberg

As Chicago-style crime continues to spread across Cook County and collar counties, local state’s attorneys are increasingly worried about a new state law. As of January 1st it would sharply restrict the imposition by judges of cash bail for criminal defendants before trial. 

Those involved say that 100 of the state’s 102 county prosecutors are fighting back against what they see as an incursion on judicial discretion and community safety. They will go to the legislature later this year and it appears, maybe to court if that fails. It will be a signal test for Illinois state’s attorneys in counties statewide who want to balance the rights of the accused with the rights of their communities to safe streets and public spaces. 

In a recent presentation to the Homer Township Board, Democrat James Glasgow, State’s Attorney of Will County, clarified why lawmakers should not micromanage judges on pretrial bail and detention. He said, “What is bail for? Bail is to protect the public, and victims, and witnesses, and to guarantee the appearance of the offender” in court to answer to charges. “That’s going to be turned on its head if this bill goes into effect.” 

End of cash bail in Illinois

House Bill 3653 was sponsored by Democrats and signed by Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker. Pritzker continues to defend the cash bail provisions, saying last week that, “We do not want someone in jail because they were arrested for a low-level crime like shoplifting to be sitting in jail for months or maybe even years… At the same time, someone who is a wealthy drug dealer, perhaps accused of murder and arrested, can show up with a suitcase full of money and get out of jail.” 

One more concerned prosecutor is DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin. He says the issue is not pretrial release for first-time shoplifters, but the new constraints on how judges can treat defendants who are charged with far more serious crimes. 

Berlin tells Wirepoints he and bipartisan colleagues statewide will advocate in the legislature during November and December veto sessions for changes to the controversial “criminal justice reform” bill rammed through in the waning hours of the 2021 lame-duck session.  Their target is a portion of that measure, House Bill 3653.

Language specifically outlawing cash bail as of January 1, 2023 is found on page 335 and 336 of the 764-page bill. And Berlin says there are at least two different provisions which seem to leave the door open for preventive detention of high-risk defendants, but effectively may foreclose it. That’s due to what might be called “devil in the details” definitions of certain key terms.

Berlin explains, “There’s categories of offenses, such as all drug offenses – all aggravated DUIs, and all forcible felonies for which you can receive probation, which include robbery, burglary, arson, aggravated battery – where judges have no discretion. They cannot detain defendants in those cases unless they find the state proves the person is a ‘willful flight risk,’” meaning they are “‘planning or attempting to intentionally evade prosecution by concealing one’s self’…Very difficult to prove…That’s our concern.” 

Also nettlesome to prosecutors is that the bill’s language quashes consideration of the risk a released defendant may pose to the community at large. Berlin says that under the parts of HB 3653 taking effect in January, some alleged felony perpetrators can be detained on high cash bail before trial. But only if prosecutors can show that the defendant’s pretrial release poses “a real and present threat to the physical safety of a specifically identifiable person or persons.” The catch here is demonstrating a threat to “specifically identifiable person or persons” versus the community at large.

Berlin argues broader community risks not specific to an individual can nonetheless be very real. Yet now these risks would not be grounds for pretrial detention under the new legislative provisions.

“You can have defendants who are a threat to the community because they’re likely to commit other violent crimes, where you may not be able to prove they’re a threat to a specific person. But that doesn’t mean that they’re not a threat…A husband kills his wife…who is he a threat to? Who is the specifically identifiable person? Very hard to say…Certainly he is capable of committing murder. That’s what’s alleged. They could likely be a danger to the community. But we’re going to have a hard time proving danger to a specific identifiable person.”

Glasgow says that when the law goes into effect that in the seven collar counties ringing Cook County, 4,000 or 5,000 prisoners awaiting trial will be released and prosecutors under the new law will be able to seek re-confinement of only about a third of them, and then only for 90 days. He adds the trouble is that current caseloads will prohibit prohibit prosecutors from getting ready for trial within 90 days. He adds, “if I can’t lock up the violent offenders, we’ll have the same situation here” as in Cook County where pretrial release of previously convicted felons who face new charges is common. “When criminals realize there are no boundaries, they are more brazen. They’ll do even more crimes.”

Demanding changes

Regarding restrictions on cash bail before trial, Berlin argues for changes along the lines of 2017 law in New Jersey. The state largely curtailed preventive detention through cash bail but yet retained judicial discretion to use it for high-risk violent suspects in case of specified major crimes “or any other crimes for which the prosecutor believes there is a serious risk that the eligible defendant will pose a danger to any person or the community.” Such as when witnesses get murdered, in Chicago

If the planned push for amending existing legislation doesn’t work? Legal action supported by county prosecutors may ensue. 

Although some other state’s attorneys and many HB 3653 critics in the legislature and elsewhere continue to call for the outright rescinding of the entire bill, Berlin takes a more moderate tack. He says, This law is very fixable. It really is.” He argues that lawmakers can still allow a general presumption against cash bail as in New Jersey’s law, but that also like that state, they can allow too for firm exceptions when deemed necessary by judges.

“And that’s really what the State’s Attorneys have been pushing for. Many of us are not just saying, ‘repeal the whole thing, just get rid of it.’ We have to respect the fact that the General Assembly passed a law. But fix it.”

However in contrast, a group of four county state’s attorneys in Illinois recently telegraphed another line of attack. It forcefully accents the essential right of Illinois communities under the state’s constitution to be protected through a robust bail-setting process. 

They wrote that the abolition of cash bail embodied in the bill “denies crime victims their constitutional rights. Article 1, Section 8.1 of the Illinois Constitution, codified in the Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act, mandates that crime victims shall have the right to have their safety and that of their families considered in denying or fixing the amount of bail, determining whether to release the defendant and setting conditions of release after arrest and conviction. Eliminating bail clearly contradicts previously established and superior law, places crime victims at a greater risk to be re-victimized, and unnecessarily subjects witnesses to threats and intimidation.”

And Berlin himself is thinking about legal remedies if need be. He says the Illinois Supreme Court in Hemingway v. Elrod has affirmed “on the issue of bail…it’s supposed to be a balancing process. Judges are supposed to balance the right of an accused against the right of the general public to receive reasonable protective consideration by the courts.” The Hemingway ruling reads in part, “…the constitutional right to bail must be qualified by the authority of the courts” with sufficient evidence “to deny or revoke bail” for a defendant before trial “to prevent interference with witnesses or jurors or to prevent the fulfillment of threats.”

Meanwhile, Illinois conservatives funded by wealthy Republican Richard Uhlein through a political action committee called People Who Play By The Rules, are airing a hard-hitting 30-second TV spot against the bill and its revocation of cash bail. The ad asserts, “the lawlessness of Chicago will soon be the law statewide.” 

One way – and another – the screws are tightening on HB3653. If change doesn’t come in Springfield, expect the fight for stronger preventive detention to persist.

Read more from Wirepoints:

88 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Charles Fornero
1 year ago

This elimination of cash bail is just catering to the criminals, not dissimilar to the proposal to defund the police. No cash bail and defund the police originated in Blue cities and states. Look at the retail closures in California where you can shoplift up to $900 and not get arrested.

Ellen D.
1 year ago

House Bill 3653 fails to address and differentiate what would be considered appropriate bond imposed on defendants. I hope there will be legal challenges to this law as right now, it seems to favor people charged with serious (and violent) crimes and a “Catch-22” for the S.A. Office. I strongly disagree with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statement, “We do not want someone in jail because they were arrested for a low-level crime like shoplifting to be sitting in jail for months or maybe even years”. Anyone charged with retail theft (value below $300.00) would be given a personal recognizance (a/k/a signature… Read more »

Last edited 1 year ago by Ellen D.
Angie719
1 year ago

People will still vote for those who destroy this state. Ignorance is a choice.

Ted McCarron
1 year ago

It’s like they’re TRYING to destroy our state and our country! One doesn’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to see what’s happening here. When they bend over backwards to let every criminal run rampant but only use the law against decent people who defend themselves like Kyle Rittenhouse or that couple in St Louis who tried to defend their property from being burnt down then it’s basically like the legal system is completely on the side of the criminals and wants to punish anyone who gets in their way. It’s a scenarios like this that right-wing malicious rise up… Read more »

Old Joe
1 year ago

Folks, the issue is not that there are too many gangbangers of color in jail.

The issue is that there are too few.

David Pearling
1 year ago

Matt’s article fully exposes two areas of critical concern: 1)   Politicians now cynically play to the criminal class and their families and friends. It terrifies me that so many are so willing to abandon the safety of their communities to keep so many accused perpetrators on the street as they await trial. Are there that many criminals? Do they compose that large of a voting block? If they do, is solidifies my family’s total red-lining of the entire city of Chicago. We never go in now. I know many other suburbanites who have done the same. Very sad. We miss “the… Read more »

Jeff Blumenthal
1 year ago

I believe we should simply ask what would make law enforcement’s job easier? Seems we should start there?

Andy Qunell
1 year ago

Don’t they realize this experiment has not worked in other states like California and New York? There needs to be consequences for one’s actions and also some sort of reason for them to show up to court, and bail sometimes is that deterrent to make them show. As for sitting in jail for low level crimes, half of these prosecutors are refusing to prosecute these cases. I can’t believe the Legislature is this out of touch with crime rates rising this will do nothing but assist in making them continue to climb.

Kristen
1 year ago

“We do not want someone in jail because they were arrested for a low-level crime like shoplifting to be sitting in jail for months or maybe even years… ” This is an outright lie. This does not happen, especially in Cook County. Most shoplifters get “I bonds” (recognizance bonds requiring only their signature as a promise to appear) and they are out of custody within hours. Even a felony shoplifting charge is at most an overnight stay in the local jail and a bond hearing in the morning in which the judge will then give them an I bond at the court… Read more »

Steve Harvey
1 year ago

The absurdity of enabling criminals while demonizing law enforcement and ignoring injuries to victims is the perfect recipe for driving cities into utter chaos and violence. Sadly liberal Democrats will not acknowledge the complete folly of their policies as we se cities being destroyed right before our eyes.

Brian Althimer
1 year ago

The “no cash bail” is dangerous at its core. I live on the South Side, and I will say that the criminal element are so ready for this to go in full effect. We already see where “electronic monitoring” got us….this will be even worse.

vonderhammer
1 year ago

Somewhere in the bowels of Chicago’s elected class, common sense was sacrificed and replaced with a leviathan bureaucracy of either incompetent, conflicted, or corrupted officials. All three probably exist in varying shapes and forms. In speaking with an attorney friend, he discussed how he is not a fan of zero tolerance laws as they fail to ameliorate the intended issues confronting the constituencies for which the laws were passed, Further, they do not allow for nuance when interpreting laws and rendering sentences. There is a wide gap between two grams or joints, two ounces, two kilos, and two tons of… Read more »

William Grube
1 year ago

Who sponsored HB3563? I missed those names in the article. Get their names in these adds and out them for the idiots. We already know how stupid Gov. Fathead is.
I forgot I was still in Illinois. There’s Soros $ in here and Madigan still runs a lot of the Legislators. Axelrod and the pacs have $ to spread. The gangs still control all the illegal “sancturians” in the state who, I’m just spitballing here, might just vote in favor of this Bill. Kill the Bill or we’re all screwed without a kiss.

Waggs
1 year ago
Reply to  William Grube

Sponsored by Senator Elgie Sims, Jr. and Representative Justin Slaughter, both Dems, obvi.
Here’s the roll call of votes in the Senate: https://legiscan.com/IL/rollcall/HB3653/id/986842

and the House: https://legiscan.com/IL/rollcall/HB3653/id/987171

All Republicans voted Nay along with a handful of Dems in both chambers.

SadStateofAffairs
1 year ago
Reply to  Waggs

Yes absolutely obvious that this draws on the typical racial lines of Chicago we all have known for many years. Interesting to note Bill Cunningham and Fran Hurley from Beverly/Mt. Greenwood are Nay and the comparison to Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz and Jonathan Carroll who are Yay. We all know why and their demographics. Every community lying within the borders of Cook County are really at risk, city neighborhoods are not exactly affordable when compared to suburban Cook County, especially the good ones with good schools. Any representative who voted for is really anti-police and against public safety. Plain and simple. I… Read more »

bmac
1 year ago

Good report. Hard to believe how crazy the Illinois legislature is. Imposing crime waves and energy poverty … hikes.

Con
1 year ago

If 102 prosecutors are concerned, I believe everyone in Illinois should be alarmed. The act places the rights of the accused ahead of the rights of victims and ahead of the ability of law enforcement officers to effectively do their jobs and keep the community safe.

Cknov
1 year ago

I hope this is overturned or whatever they do to stop this insanity. Thanks for focusing I. This. I will share. I shared a FB posting by the Mayor of New Lenox about this the post went viral shared and liked hundreds of times Obviously people are irate over this supposed safe t act. The only ones that will be safe are the criminals.

Matt Guerreiro
1 year ago

Bail is a complicated issue. No one wants to see people jailed before trial because they can’t afford bail. On the other hand, public safety depends upon getting violent criminals off the streets to prevent re-offending. Here in NYC, efforts at “bail reforms” have been a disaster for local citizens.

debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Guerreiro

Bail isn’t complicated. Bail in some form or another been around since the Anglo-Saxons for over 1,500 years. https://www.heritage.org/courts/report/the-history-cash-bail The Black Caucus doesn’t like jail, because it affects blacks more than all other races combined, so they got rid of it. That’s really all that it is. It’s that simple. It’s called equity. My guess is that next term will be the next step in criminal justice reform, which is the complete decriminalization of petty crimes and misdemeanors, and the reduction in prison time for other crimes. Two murders now is automatic life in prison no parole. Why? One gangbanger… Read more »

Last edited 1 year ago by debtsor
Alan Eason
1 year ago

I am not a Chicagoan, but whenever this type of debate goes on in Cook County, I always wonder what is being done to enforce Chicago’s strict gun laws on those released without bail (or even released ON bail) and the people whom they deal with. Certainly that would help to locate the most egregious offenders of the gun statutes, get many guns off the streets, and start to cut down the carnage that fogs the name of Chicago with a blood-red haze. Most Americans are aghast at this and, also, those who are aware of Chicago’s strict gun laws… Read more »

Tubal-Caine
1 year ago
Reply to  Alan Eason

AG Merrick Garfinkle still refuses to prosecute JBs that have been caught with unregistered machine guns. In the past, convictions usually resulted in ten years in the Federal Pen and a $10k fine. Why do black thugs go back on the streets w/o incarcercation? The real racists are
Kim Foxx, Garfinkle and Prickwinkle. Chicago needs constitutional carry on the street as well as the CTA.

Tim Favero
1 year ago

People are leaving Chicago and Illinois in droves as the violence and political climate are getting worse for the average citizen in Illinois. While aiding and abetting criminals and their behavior, it’s only going to get worse.

Alex
1 year ago

The first rule of rules, or of laws, is that they have to make sense. Can someone explain how this bail elimination measure does that? There is no more vital service that govt provides than public safety, but this oncoming law flies in the face of that. Once more, the political class has chosen to put the law-breaker above the law-abiding. Because reasons. Such as equity, one presumes. Never mind that the most likely victims of this upside down policy making are minorities. Politics seems to be the one profession in which people never have to face the results of… Read more »

David
1 year ago

It’s shocking to me that we NEVER had much of a problem except on the margins when it came to pre-trial release an poor people not getting bail. But it’s blatantly obvious that hundrds, if not thousands, of people are on the streets who shouldn’t be on “no bail” bond.

And I’ll note Kim Foxx or other major Cook County or Chicago-based officials are nowhere near this, and are actively supporting policies that lead to greater victimization. The # of shootings doubling to more than 4,000 in recent years is a clear indication we’re going in the WRONG direction.

Mark Meyerowitz
1 year ago

I suspect that this is all about race. The leftists in the legal system, and the lawmakers, want to even out the racial statistics of criminals in jail, and the easiest way to do that is not to punish at all. The problem is that justice was supposed to be blind to race but that is now gone. The victims of the criminals released too soon will not get much comfort.

1 year ago

This is driven by the tired and nonsensical theory of “disproportionality” and “disparities” which is based on the wishful thinking that any and every racial group will be “represented” in any group (prisoners, college graduates, CEOs, elected lawmakers, etc.) in the nearly exact same proportion as in the general population. It’s a remarkably shoddy basis for public policy, but has been embedded as a holy writ in several generations of state and private college grads who now *are* our elected officeholders, judges, and media. The most pernicious aspect of it is that is separates inputs from outcomes. In so doing,… Read more »

Last edited 1 year ago by Matt Rosenberg
debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Rosenberg

What I’m about to say is un-PC, but it is absolutely realpolitik: The disparate impact excuse for criminal justice reform is just a cover for ethnonarcissism. The Black Caucus wants a smaller black jail population so they rewrote the laws to keep fewer blacks in jail. Blacks are 50% of the jail population (and almost 60% of the prison population) despite being only 15% of the state’s population. The Black Caucus doesn’t really care if less non-black people are in jail. Their stated purpose is to advance the rights of people who share their skin color. Heck, the law itself… Read more »

Brenda Giguere
1 year ago

One thought always occurs to me when I read about bail and related issues: Isn’t there ample cause-and-effect data that would preclude making the same mistakes over and over? Why do people keep trying to deny reality and push for policies that don’t work, and in fact make things worse? Society pays a heavy price for this kind of delusional thinking. Good article as always.

Last edited 1 year ago by Brenda Giguere
Silverfox
1 year ago
Reply to  Brenda Giguere

Delusional thinking is what Democrats seem to do best. However, it serves to keep them in power. So, maybe not delusional for those Dems in power, but truly delusional for those who continually vote for them otherwise known as the little guy.

Dan Ehrman
1 year ago

Pernicious, despotic lawmaking is not “setting the prisoner free,” but promulgating lawlessness imprisoning the public to the whims of the anarchic hordes. Can the woke wake before these waves break, or will we simply utter, “thank you, may I have another?”

Tom
1 year ago

I am really amazed that the politicians have not learned by looking at the other states that have tried the no bail or bail reform path before them. Just look at NY Or California they have had a massive up tick in reported crime. Cook county is already had an increase in crime since 2019, no bail may just push it over the edge.

Chatty Cathy
1 year ago
Reply to  Tom

Those with leftist views adopt similar policies, paying no mind to what lessons may be learned from past efforts, and how these may help or hurt the citizen. Their course of action seems to be to double down and not look back. They are evil and foolish. :/

sabrina
1 year ago

As someone who loves the vibrance of big cities – I feel cheated that we cant even visit without fear of being robbed or worse. Longing for the days of Donald J Trump…

Lin Cappozzo
1 year ago

Excellent article. I grew up a south side of Chicago girl. As I left my home to go out with friends my parents warning was if you get arrested we will not bail you out. Granted I wasn’t going out to commit crimes. My infractions would consist of curfew, and occasionally under age drinking. And my fear was great of being picked up for either. Luckily I was never arrested. But the fear was always there. Not only would there be the embarrassment of being arrested, there was the shame it would bring to my family. And also the punishment… Read more »

Old Joe
1 year ago
Reply to  Lin Cappozzo

Lin, according to progressives being a frequent crime victim is now the new normal and something you just need to become accustomed to.

Silverfox
1 year ago
Reply to  Lin Cappozzo

Yeah, I was raised the same way on the North side of Chicago with the same respect for law and fear of consequences. It’s served me well.
And about movies…couldn’t any contract with movie producers include a provision that they provide their own security? Or would that scare them away ?

Chatty Cathy
1 year ago
Reply to  Lin Cappozzo

The slimy social/political culture that has developed and is spreading is the exact opposite of what many of us grew up with. “Consequences, shmonsequences. We will do what we want if it feels good, and NO ONE will do anything about it.” No society can survive with total mayhem and lawlessness

debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  Chatty Cathy

What you call total mayhem and lawlessness is what the progressive calls ‘hustling for a living’. Imagine if you asked a gang banger, “what causes you the most distress, and how can it be remedied?” The gang banger would most assuredly say that being harassed for assault, gun charges, petty theft, and going to jail for property or anti-social crimes (drugs, prostitution) was his biggest problem, and that he wished the bad white dudes running government would just let him solve his community disputes in his community, without interference from the authorities. Well, our lawmakers asked the black caucus after… Read more »

Last edited 1 year ago by debtsor
Jeffrey Carter
1 year ago

Idiots. The reason people are really moving now is crime. Crime has ticked up in the Western suburbs of DuPage Cty where I grew up. Sean Casten the Rep. It shows what happens when Republicans abandon their principles.

Don Moran
1 year ago

Jails and prisons exist to peirce the public from dangerous individuals.

Armand Daniel Ciabattari
1 year ago

HB 3653 is blind, left-wing destruction of the criminal justice system under the guise helping those who cannot afford bail regardless of the severity of the crimes committed. In every jurisdiction where similar no bail statues have been imposed, crime increases for the citizens in that jurisdiction and beyond. The remedy is simple. Vote out left-wing extremists! Work for good candidates and get them elected. We are at a tipping point in this country! Get involved in every local election from school boards, to sheriffs, to DA’s, to mayoral races, to city counsel representatives, to local state legislative offices, and… Read more »

nixit
1 year ago

Are shoplifters really spending months/years in jail because they can’t make bail? How prevalent is that use case?

JB governs to the “just one” principal when it suits him. Masks for everyone lest one student gets sick, abortion everywhere-anytime-no-permission-needed lest one girl is raped by her uncle, etc. But what about the one guy let out on no-cash bail and commits another crime? Why no concern there?

We do not want someone in jail because they were arrested for a low-level crime like shoplifting to be sitting in jail for months or maybe even years…

Last edited 1 year ago by nixit
Aaron
1 year ago
Reply to  nixit

”just one more” you mean

Dennis
1 year ago

I think if you ask the police officer on the street about his or her thoughts, you’d find that, hope is missing in his look into the future. I believe there is no turning back or restoring what was! The very people who stripped the accountability away are now sought to reverse it? I think that ship has sailed. I also think Shakespeare may have had the solution after all!! If ya don’t know the reference, look it up!

Doug
1 year ago

The lawlessness in Cook County is Exhibit A for repealing this insane law. We’ve already seen far too many criminals released without posting bail to commit more violent crimes. The public is fed up with this nonsense and wants a return to law and order. Solution: Fire Pritzker and his democrat majority.

Preston
1 year ago

The late great M. Stanton Evans, journalist extraordinaire, once explained the “Evans law of insufficient paranoia: No matter how bad something looks at first glance, upon further investigation it only gets worse.” This new no bail law certainly fits that description. If this law is not either amended, repealed, or stopped in the courts, how many more people will have to die for a substantive change to take place? How many more people’s lives will be destroyed because some gangbanger gets out without having to post bail and blows away an innocent witness?

ProzacPlease
1 year ago
Reply to  Preston

That’s a great quote- I’ve never heard it before!

Ataraxis
1 year ago
Reply to  Preston

Unfortunately, victims of this new law are just collateral damage to the politicians. They’ll shrug their shoulders at the next victims, just like they shrugged their shoulders at all of the past victims. “How many more people will have to die for a substantive change to take place?” Thousands have already died in the past few years before this law was passed, so apparently there is NOT a number of deaths that would trigger a change. The politicians are fine with the number of killings and other violent crimes, as evidenced by every action that they have taken that has… Read more »

Joseph Beaupied
1 year ago
Reply to  Ataraxis

To a progressive, murder victims are kind of like post birth abortions.

Vladimir Sliva
1 year ago

Socialists want to destabilize the country to get their revolution. I lived in socialist Czechoslovakia. What happens decades after successful socialist revolution is that the non-working system destroys everything for everyone. The socialists are forced to eventually admit that they, too, end up suffering, but repairing what they destroyed is extremely difficult.

nixit
1 year ago
Reply to  Vladimir Sliva

Socialists don’t want to defund police inasmuch as they want to fund their police. We’re supposed to believe all these tankies are going to leave a huge void in law enforcement? History says otherwise.

SadStateofAffairs
1 year ago

Many of our wonderful politicians are lawyers some still practicing or serving the government in some capacity. The knee jerk reaction post George Floyd is what took place here. Too many of these folks were either convinced to go woke because they believed it was the right thing to do and others sided with the mob out of fear of retaliation, intimidation, bullying, and being thrown out of office. In both cases they were wrong. Wrong in every possible way. We are suffering the consequences. The real elephant in the room is the Cook County Voter. They voted for these… Read more »

Riverbender
1 year ago

I understand Chicago’s problem for with this but downstate has issues too. St. Clair County for example has East St. Louis and surrounding areas to contend with. It will be fun times there for sure for the criminally inclined.

Molly
1 year ago

How bad do things have to get before voters get angry enough to make a change? Are they just voting with their feet?

Scott Greene
1 year ago

HB3653 is wreckless! Larry Walsh Jr. our current State Representative was an advocate for this. This bill cuffs the hands of police and prosecution while releasing criminals. We need TRUE representation for The People of Illinois. Safe communities grow the economy. Everyone deserves to live in safe communities.

Hale DeMar
1 year ago

Welcome to the Club

10 Most Dangerous Cities in the US (#1 is the highest cost of crime)

  • Detroit, Michigan.
  • New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • Baltimore, Maryland.
  • Memphis, Tennessee.
  • Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
  • Kansas City, Missouri.
  • Shreveport, Louisiana.
Freddy
1 year ago
Reply to  Hale DeMar

Many of us know the common denominator in these cities but what is a good way to address these issues? Most of the crime stats are within specific races. Is it single parenthood/lack of a father figure/the education system/local policies/drug laws/environmental issues like lead exposure over decades or all of the preceding? Now we are in an anything goes world. Right or wrong has been replaced by politically correct. Mass arrests and incarcerations will cause a host of new problems.

Dan
1 year ago

This cash bail “reform” is evidence that our society and culture are weakening and dissolving. And like countless reforms that have come before, it presupposes that “past laws were implemented without the level of insight that only we can see.” This level of hubris fails every time. The truth is that most past laws were tried and honed to work over decades and decades. Assuming one’s innate ability to “know” better is dangerous.

debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  Dan

On a larger, philosophical level, yes, this is true. But the main reason for this law is that the Black Caucus thought that too many black residents were languishing in pretrial detention (aka jail). Roughly half our jail population is black people even though they are only 15% of the state population. The Black Caucus said that pretrial detention is too disruptive for criminals and their families. So they gave our state’s jail population a get out of jail free card! Criminal justice reform was merely the first pillar of the Black Caucus’s agenda, there are four pillars total: Pillar… Read more »

SadStateofAffairs
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

Appreciate the way you articulated this. It explains a lot. Can’t agree with you more, these catastrophic decisions will impact many generations unless we course correct. I really think the rational ones in government are afraid to do so and will retire, leave, not run, or get out of politics completely. I hate to be a doubting Thomas here but it just doesn’t look good.

debtsor
1 year ago

Progressives know and understand that crime will increase significantly. It’s already happening with reduced bail requirements, and it will only get worse. But progressives don’t care. Increased crime is just something society is just going to have to deal with for some time until….well…our social justice reforms reverberate throughout society and somehow, someway, equalize disparate impact of everything across the various colors of skin, and then crime will decrease. Of course we know this is complete nonsense: the most effective way to prevent crime is to lock up criminals who commit crime. This is mostly uncontroverted knowledge among serious people… Read more »

Old Joe
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

In the near future people with something to take from them will become as rare as a dodo bird sighting in Chicago.

debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

who would downvote this comment and why?

Aaron
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

Wasn’t me but I can tell you why. Dogma of the Democraps overrides reality. Think of it like a cult for the occult.

Last edited 1 year ago by Aaron
Silverfox
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

We appear to have a chronic down voter on this forum who takes the opportunity to give thumbs down to anyone espousing anti-Democrat party opinions.
Why ? I can’t figure.

nixit
1 year ago

JB must be binge watching Better Call Saul.

“We do not want someone in jail because they were arrested for a low-level crime like shoplifting to be sitting in jail for months or maybe even years… At the same time, someone who is a wealthy drug dealer, perhaps accused of murder and arrested, can show up with a suitcase full of money and get out of jail.” 

BCS bail.jpg
Last edited 1 year ago by nixit
debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  nixit

He was binge watching better call saul when he said that. Our politicians aren’t the brightest people.

Last edited 1 year ago by debtsor
Jerald L Dyson
1 year ago

It is almost hard to fathom that state lawmakers are so detached from rising crime statistics, so naive about human nature, that they do not connect the dots between prosecutorial laxness and the death and mayhem perpetrated by repeat offenders. Before it is too late, perhaps Illinois voters will wake up the the people and the policies that are driving business and people away from illinois in droves, and vote for legislaters who have common sense, and are not themselves criminal of a pay to play system. All of this happens in broad daylight and has for years. The crooks… Read more »

Truth Seeker
1 year ago

We have several laws that violate our own State Constitution. All of these politicians take an oath to uphold the Constitution. If this Bill passes it will take assertion on the part of these SA’s in their Counties to uphold the Constitution and not an unconstitutional law.

The Doctor
1 year ago
Reply to  Truth Seeker

Bill has already passed. Implementation date is Jan 1, 2023.

Truth Seeker
1 year ago
Reply to  The Doctor

Thanks. I cannot keep track of all of the lawlessness.

Fed up neighbor
1 year ago

Pritzker is more concerned about his own agenda and not the people of Illinois

Bill Edley
1 year ago

Once again, a narrow racist legislative agenda supersedes public safety.

Goodgulf Greyteeth
1 year ago

Pritzker would rather have woke votes-n-$’s than public safety. A blind man can see that with a stick. I expect that Pritzker and the Springfield woke-n-broke legislative swamp creatures will get together and muddle up some sort of revision to the Safe T Act that allows them to claim that they’ve “fixed” it, even though their “fix” doesn’t keep one dangerous defendant off the streets who would have been released without their revision. The same clueless media-mob that can’t be bothered with actually following up on all of JB’s unemployment, DCFS and Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse isn’t going to… Read more »

debtsor
1 year ago

So what I’m hearing is that next summer, all of Cook County is going to look like Mad Max.

ProzacPlease
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

And then maybe they can get the National Police Force, under Federal control, that they so obviously want.

Last edited 1 year ago by ProzacPlease
Old Joe
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

PP, they actually have a National Police Force in France. They also have occasional National Police Force strikes.

Yes, you read that right.

Freddy
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

It will be like Escape from Chicago. We are already living in The Andromeda Strain and Contagion. Chicago needs you Snake Plissken!

David C
1 year ago

The legislature passed this bill, the governor signed it and now they’re going to say, “whoops we made a mistake?” Seems highly unlikely to me. I would expect the law to take effect on January 1st with all logical disastrous consequences to follow.

debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  David C

It depends on the outcome of the midterms. if the IL legislature was a dummymander instead of a gerrymander, and several D legislators lose their seats, yeah, they’re going to come back and pass something after becoming acutely aware of the outrage. I give this a 1% chance of happening. The most likely outcome is that things stay the same, and starting next spring when things warm up, crime is going to get out of control, with repeat offenders terrorizing law abiding residents throughout the state, and national news coverage about the insane increase in violent crime.

Hale DeMar
1 year ago

Is it any wonder why these liberal cities are losing their most affluent, educated and productive citizens ? Once upon a time…living in the city was joyful, safe and very convenient for dining, shopping and live entertainment. These days, a walk down Michigan Avenue after dark is a goddamn crap shoot ! Is it any wonder that the sight of three black teenagers walking in your direction causes heart palpation’s.

Sure, who needs Cash or a Recognizance bond ?

Old Joe
1 year ago
Reply to  Hale DeMar

JJ once said he was relived when saw that those 3 teenagers weren’t POC!

Yes, you read that right and he’d surely know.

SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER

Home Page Signup
First
Last
Check all you would like to receive:

FOLLOW US

 

WIREPOINTS ORIGINAL STORIES

A statewide concern: Illinois’ population decline outpaces neighboring states – Wirepoints on ABC20 Champaign

“We are not in good shape” Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski told ABC 20 Champaign during a segment on Illinois’ latest population losses. Illinois was one of just three states to shrink in the 2010-2020 period and has lost another 300,000 people since then. Ted says things need to change. “It’s too expensive to live here, there aren’t enough good jobs and nobody trusts the government anymore. There’s just other places to go where you can be more satisfied.”

Read More »

WE’RE A NONPROFIT AND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS ARE DEDUCTIBLE.

SEARCH ALL HISTORY

CONTACT / TERMS OF USE