Taking the pulse of no cash bail 2 years later reveals improvements and concerns
Has Illinois' SAFE-T Act resulted in more crime? Has it resulted in more defendants held in custody awaiting trial? A new analysis of recent data reveals some answers in the numbers.
Over the years, the process of handling a suspect after arrest changed in courtrooms throughout Illinois.
In 2017, reform measures in Cook County first lowered bond amounts, making it easier for some defendants to pay up and get out of jail pending the outcome of their case.
Then, in 2023, a statewide law removed cash from the decision-making process altogether. Instead, the Court took into account the crime, the defendant's criminal history, and their risk to the community.
Defendants accused of minor, non-violent crimes would no longer remain in jail, while violent criminals who threaten public safety would remain in custody awaiting trial.
Two years later, how is the Pretrial Fairness portion of the SAFE-T Act working?
The law under threat
In 2025, Illinois is under threats from President Donald Trump to eliminate the law or face funding cuts. In response, Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke said, "I worry about anything that would jeopardize the funding that we desperately need."
Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell, Jr. said, "Just saying, "I don't like that law change it or I'm going to starve your citizens of the things they need. I mean, is there a better definition of tyranny? I don't know."
Mitchell defends the law, saying that adding money back into the equation doesn't equal increased safety, "This idea that money was this panacea and created better outcomes is totally false."
One of the claims the President made in August was that "Cashless Bail is a Government-Backed Crime Spree."
O'Neill Burke responded to that claim this way, "I don't think it's reflected in the statistics."
Detention requests & detentions granted
So, what do the statistics show?
The CBS News Chicago Investigators analyzed several sets of data from public records requests and that are publicly available.
During the two years of no cash bail, more than 40,000 defendants charged with violent and non-violent crimes have been placed on pretrial release.
- 82% had not committed any new crime.
- 17% faced a new non-violent charge. Non -violent crimes include drugs and weapons charges, property offenses.
- 1% were charged with a new violent crime like robbery, rape, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and murder.
That 1% figure is lower than before and after the 2017 bail reform measures in Cook County took effect. A 2020 Loyola report, "Dollars and Sense in Cook County," showed 3% of defendants out while awaiting trial committed a new violent crime. The reform measures which allowed more defendants to be released pretrial had no impact on crime.
Republican Illinois State Representative Martin McLaughlin, who represents parts of Cook, Lake, McHenry, and Kane counties in the 52nd District, isn't swayed by the low percentage of new violent crimes.
"I see this as a failure for one of our basic tenets, which is to protect the health and safety and welfare of our constituents," he said.
He said any defendant committing a violent crime on pretrial release proves the system isn't working.
"In the last eight months, in Cook County in Chicago, particularly, there's been eight pre-trial releases that have reoffended and are accused of murder, that is a capital crime."
Rep. McLaughlin said the eight-figure is an estimate and on the low end of other numbers out there by other groups who oppose cashless bail.
But cases do happen. For example, in June, a man shot and killed his girlfriend. He was out on pretrial release at the time, charged with drug possession and resisting police. Prosecutors had asked for detention because of prior felony weapons convictions. But the judge ordered him released.
O'Neill Burke said she never wants to see that happen, but pointed out that those cases are rare, as the 1% committing new violent crimes indicate.
"That's a number I can live with. Higher than that I can't live with, and that would mean there's a systemic failure," she said.
She is taking a tougher stance on defendants charged with murder and attempted murder, saying she has instructed state prosecutors to file for detention every single time.
Since the new law took effect in September 2023, detention was requested 95% of the time for those violent crimes. When requested, judges granted detention 92% of the time.
The Public Defender has a different opinion. "We would probably argue that 95% number is a little bit high, because, again, someone can be accused of murder and they may have not done it. Maybe the evidence isn't strong. Maybe they're an accused accomplice. Maybe they were accused of murdering their abuser. There's lots of context," Mitchell said.
Those not detained are almost always on electronic monitoring.
O'Neill Burke doesn't think that's good enough – even though 135 murder and attempted murder suspects are currently on EM. 41 of those are under the supervision of the Chief Judge's office.
"If you're putting a violent offender on electronic monitoring, we believe that you are endangering the public by doing so," said O'Neill Burke.
Meanwhile, Rep. McLaughlin says the statistics showing violent crime is down since the switch doesn't capture the safety issues his constituents continue to feel.
"Yeah, you can say that it's less dangerous, but it's like saying you have a 106-degree fever now it's just 105, it's still fatal, and it's deadly for far too many residents of Cook County."
Mitchell thinks it's unlikely that Illinois' leaders will repeal the SafeT Act anytime soon, despite the pressure from the federal government.
"I think that this region, the city, the state, has a long history of rejecting and resisting tyranny," he said.
There are other places around the country where money is being removed from the detention decision-making. In New York City, city data show that less than 1% of those on pretrial release commit a new violent felony.
And, a 2023 Loyola report, "Is Bail Reform Causing an Increase in Crime," looked at Harris County, Texas, where Houston is, Philadelphia, and New Jersey, and also found no significant increase in violent crimes in the year before and the year after bail reforms took effect in those places.
So what does Cook County's top prosecutor think about reforms in Illinois and the connection with crime?
"The city is safer today than it was a year ago. The county is safer today than it was a year ago, and the system is working."
