How bail reform will work in Illinois
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The elimination of cash bail in Illinois does not mean people charged with crimes can no longer be held in custody pending trial.
But the act backed by the Illinois Supreme Court Tuesday does lay out new procedures for detaining someone.
Prosecutors must file a request that a person be detained and make arguments on why the person should be held before trial, including whether they believe the person is a danger to the public or a flight risk.
Defense attorneys will be given more time to prepare for the hearing and will have the ability to call witnesses. A person can be held in custody until that hearing.
It will still be up to a judge to determine whether someone is held in custody or released under certain conditions, like with electronic monitoring.
People charged with misdemeanors and other minor offenses will be released without bail or pretrial conditions.
The decision on whether a person should continue to be held in custody can also be reviewed at future hearings at a defendant’s request, allowing new evidence to be considered.
Requests for bail review will largely be handled by the trial judge overseeing a case. Courthouse observers told the Sun-Times they expect the reviews will be easy to incorporate into the judge’s regular court calls.
People who have been issued a bond before the act goes into effect in September can request a hearing to have it lifted, though the process won’t happen automatically. Any money that had been put up for a bond would be returned, though other conditions could be added.
Courts throughout the state have 60 days to prepare for the new pretrial detention hearings under the act.
”I feel very confident that we will be ready to go,” Pretrial Division Presiding Judge Marubio said Tuesday, noting that the county had been prepared to move forward with the reforms in January when the law was initially supposed to go into effect.
Until Sept. 18, judges will continue to set bail in cases in Cook County, just as they had been doing up until Dec. 31, Marubio said.
Courthouse observers who spoke with the Sun-Times said they did not expect the system to be overwhelmed by requests for new detention hearings. The number of people held in custody because they can’t afford bail has declined in recent years because of earlier pretrial reforms implemented in Cook County.
As of Monday, nearly 5,700 people were held in custody at the Cook County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office. About half of them were being held without bail.
Studies of jurisdictions that have nearly eliminated cash bail have shown no significant increase in crime generally or by people released while awaiting trial. In some cases, defendants were more likely to return to court.