Illinois is passing a law that some would say will make history. Illinois is looking to be the first state in the United States to abolish cash bail. And the consequences of passing such a law have many believing the state could mirror the horror movie “The Purge”. In the film, citizens were given 24 hours to commit all the crimes they wanted.

On January 1st of 2023 the ‘SAFE-T’ Act will commence in the state of Illinois. This act will get rid of the cash bail system in its entirety. The name SAFE-T is an acronym for ‘Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity-Today’. Those that instated the act believe it will reduce arrests and limit those put away based on the crime.

Non-Detainable Offenses

There are 12 non-detainable offenses where the new law would end cash bail. The law includes second-degree murder, arson, drug-induced homicide, robbery, kidnapping, aggravated battery, burglary, intimidation, aggravated driving under the influence, fleeing and eluding, drug offenses, and threatening a public official.

“I’m very concerned about an increase in violent crime. But again I do want to stress there is still time to fix it. And the state’s attorneys are working very hard as we have been for the last year and a half to fix this law. It is very fixable, where we can still eliminate cash bail but make sure the right people are in custody and everybody else who’s not a danger gets out,” said state’s attorney Robert Berlin.

The Safe-T Act would allow criminals a pre-trial release for the crimes listed above. And if prosecutors fail to show “clear and convincing evidence” that the alleged could be a threat to a specific individual. Unfortunately, the consequences of the Safe-T Act make an impact on how fast arrested criminals must be dealt with. Because prosecutors would only have 48 hours to decide whether the alleged criminal should be released. Investigators believe that 48 hours isn’t enough time to collect valuable evidence from surveillance cameras, laboratory work, and forensic research.

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Reason For SAFE-T Act

As controversial as this law could be, let’s look at how this came about. For many years in the United States, many have called to abolish the cash bail system. Three out of five people that are in jail have not been convicted of any crimes. That’s about half a million people wasting away in jail cells before there’s even a trial because of the lack of actually investigating and research.

The Center For American Progress believes the cash bail system in most jurisdictions across the US are “criminalizing poverty.” Most in detention can’t afford the bail and spend weeks to even months, awaiting trial. This system mostly affects communities of color who already have the odds stacked against them across the country.

Hence, “studies show that pretrial detention can actually increase a person’s likelihood of rearrest upon release, perpetuating an endless cycle of arrest and incarceration,” stated the institute.