AG candidate seeks to reform SAFE-T Act
[April 23, 2026]
By Sean Reed | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – An Illinois attorney general candidate launched a
new initiative to reform the SAFE-T Act.
The law enacted a number of criminal justice reforms across Illinois in
2021, and brought about the elimination of cash bail.
Republican Illinois Attorney General candidate Bob Fioretti announced
the creation of a new Illinois Public Safety & Accountability
Commission, led by retired Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel.
One issue Fioretti sees with current law is how it handles electronic
monitored release of inmates, which has been widely expanded since the
2023 law eliminating cash bail statewide.
He said the system is not working properly, and it was designed to allow
low-level offenders to remain at home, instead of using taxpayer funds
to keep them incarcerated full time.
“Electronic monitoring was never intended to let the violent criminals
go home, enjoy home cooking, roam the streets for two days a week
looking for new victims and their and their victims and families
suffer,” Fioretti said.
Weitzel further said the legislative changes the group is looking to
suggest are grounded in common sense and would be crafted based on input
from stakeholders.
“We're reaching out to Republicans, Democrats, independents. You're
going to see police leaders, you're going to see legislative leaders
invited,” Weitzel said. “You're going to see court personnel who it
actually affects, the practitioners, and we're going to ask them for
advice on what we could do to improve the SAFE-T act.”
Though they created the commission to suggest reforms to the law, both
men said the best solution would be to scrap it all together, but a
repeal is not realistic in today’s political climate.
Fioretti said that if state Democrats don’t change course soon, their
policies will further bolster an uptick in crime across the state.
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|
Pastor David Lowery Jr. of Universal Baptist Church in Harvey,
Illinois, stands with Republican Cook County State’s Attorney
candidate Bob Fioretti and Mark Carter of Chicago during a news
conference in Milwaukee outside the Republican National Convention.
Photo: Greg Bishop / The Center Square
“Unless leaders of the Illinois Democratic Party dramatically
reverse their current philosophy of ‘the criminals are the good
guys, the police are the bad guys, and the victims don't matter,’
then all they are doing is rearranging chairs on the deck of the
Titanic.”
Weitzel said their goal is driven by how Illinoisans feel about
crime.
“I think the citizens across Illinois have already expressed – even
if you don't agree with my position or Bob's position – you want
change for public safety,” Weitzel said.
According to a February report from the Illinois Policy Institute,
the violent crime rate in Chicago reached a decade-low in 2025, and
total arrest rates rose from 13.8% to 15.8% year over year.
Fioretti is running n the November general election against Democrat
incumbent Kwame Raoul.
Raoul defended the SAFE-T Act and the elimination of cash bail in
2023, when it was challenged on constitutional grounds in the
Illinois Supreme Court.
Alongside the launch, Fioretti said they would soon be travelling
around the state to hold town hall meetings on the SAFE-T Act and
other policies he is campaigning on. |
