Illinois Supreme Court set to release ruling on no-cash bail case
Tuesday
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[July 15, 2023]
By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Whether the state will allow cash bail or not will
soon be decided by the Illinois Supreme Court.
On Friday, the court announced that Tuesday it would release an opinion
in the case Rowe v. Raoul, the challenge state’s attorneys from across
the state brought against the Safety, Accountability, Fairness,
Equity-Today Act.
The criminal justice reform measure narrowly passed in early 2021 and
was modified several times since then. One component on hold because of
the challenge removes cash bonds statewide as part of how county
prosecutors can assure criminal defendants show up for trial.
Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe led the challenge when the
case was heard by the Illinois Supreme Court in March.
“And for the sheriff, the sheriff has to ensure effectively the safety
of every law enforcement officer under his charge,” Rowe said. “This act
requires them to serve for instance notice to appear and then a warrant
on two occasions. We’ve now doubled the number of instances where law
enforcement is going to have to come into contact with perhaps a
fugitive or a very dangerous individual.”
Supporters of ending cash bail argue such policies allow for wealthy
people to buy their way out of jail while those of lesser means languish
behind bars pending trial.
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During the 2022 election season, criticism of the no-cash bail provision
made national headlines when it was featured on the popular podcast The
Joe Rogan Experience.
“The ‘SAFE-T’ law,” Rogan said as he read from a news account of the
measure. “They're essentially eliminating cash bail for almost
everything dangerous … It's crazy, I mean everyone's freaking out.”
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![The Illinois Supreme Court](../images/071523PIX/6463c556d3f93.image_small.jpg)
The Illinois Supreme Court
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Critics said unchanged, the SAFE-T Act included no-cash bail for serious
crimes an individual could be let out of jail pretrial, like murder,
arson, kidnapping and more. Lawsuits continued to stack up ahead of the
act's implementation. Gov. J.B. Pritzker in December 2022 signed
amendments to the law that clarified criminal defendants could be held
pretrial for serious crimes and clarified that law enforcement can
arrest someone who is trespassing, but only after first issuing a
citation.
Pritzker argued in March the policy makes things more safe and fair.
“Keeping violent criminals in jail, not allowing them to have bail, but
taking nonviolent criminals and saying that there’s no reason for us to
have pay for you to sit in jail when you can’t afford the few hundred
dollars to get out of jail,” Pritzker said.
With the ruling on the SAFE-T Act anticipated, some have called foul
because of perceived conflicts within the Illinois Supreme Court. Last
year Pritzker gave the campaign committee for two successful candidates
for the Illinois Supreme Court $1 million each. He previously said it
was “ridiculous” to think they should have recused themselves.
“And I’ve certainly never asked anybody to vote a certain way, or decide
on a case a certain way,” Pritzker said. “I would never do that. I never
have and I never will.”
Motions for Justices Elizabeth Rochford and Mary O'Brien to recuse
themselves in a separate case challenging Illinois' gun and magazine ban
were denied by the justices and the court. A decision in that case heard
in May is still pending.
Alongside the SAFE-T Act ruling to be released by the Illinois Supreme
Court Tuesday is an opinion in the case State of Illinois v. Wayne
Washington. That case deals with a false murder confession through
coercive interrogation where the petitioner was denied a certificate of
innocence by a lower court. |