Today’s quotable
Tuesday, Sep 17, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Daily Herald story on the one-year anniversary of the end of cash bail…
Some remain unconvinced of cashless bail’s merit. Describing the law as “failed and flawed,” Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain says it put more people into custody and strained the court system by increasing caseloads. […]
— The Lake County Sheriff’s Office reported a total of 639 individuals in custody at the jail on Sept. 10, 2023, with 98 on electronic monitoring, and 604 individuals in custody on Sept. 10, 2024, with 84 on electronic monitoring.
— Conversely, according to Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain, jail population increased from a daily average of 270 in 2023 to 320 in 2024.
- SweetLou86 - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 8:14 am:
First it was “it’s going to empty the jails!” and now it’s “they’re overcrowding the jails!”. Some people just can’t admit that they were wrong and the law is working.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 9:04 am:
Wait a minute. I thought the original criticism was that there were going to be all kinds of criminals roaming the streets. Now it’s there are too many people being detained. These people are unbelievable. Maybe they should worry more about doing their job and less about being political mouthpieces against a law that they clearly do not understand.
- Downstate - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 9:08 am:
It’s not reported in the news very much, but a group of foreign bad actors have pilfered millions of dollars from Chicago area banks via their ATMs.
With the new cash-bail system, nearly to a person, they’ve been released and quickly left the country.
Clearly the law needs some tweaking.
- TheInvisibleMan - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 9:12 am:
One of the, but by far not the only, reason I’ve noticed there is an increasing lack of public trust in Sheriff offices - is that somehow these job holders who were so vocally wrong about their jobs and responsibilities are somehow still in these positions.
These Sheriffs didn’t just have a slight disagreement. They made public statements which were not only in direct contradiction of already established concepts in law, many of them also made statements regarding the base constitutionality of the changes.
This is even more important for the States Attorney who took such a position, which was always a display of a poor understanding of the constitution.
To demonstrate such a poor understanding of the law, and then just sit there and continue to take a paycheck from the public shows a profound lack of integrity. Integrity would have been resigning from the position after taking such a hard line stance. I’ve resigned from well-paying positions on principal for FAR less.
There’s no possible way I am ever going to trust people who act this way. While it’s not at the top of the list for why I’m now choosing to look at moving to another county in the state - it’s pretty high on the list.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 9:14 am:
=With the new cash-bail system, nearly to a person, they’ve been released and quickly left the country.=
That sounds like a failing of the courts not a cash bail issue.
- Lurker - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 9:14 am:
@Downstate, would they have been out on bail under the old system?
It seems if they were a flight risk and that risk was assessed correctly, this system was the best system to detain them. Of course, if you read the article above, you completely missed the new GOP cry that too many are detained. What a (ends rant due to profanity not allowed)
- Benjamin - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 9:21 am:
@Downstate: got a source for that story?
- workingfromhome - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 9:25 am:
SweetLou86 +1
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 9:26 am:
===It’s not reported in the news very much===
Post a link or you’re going into timeout.
- NIU Grad - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 9:38 am:
Wait…is he saying that it’s overcrowding the jails because these are people he would have normally released to get the bail money for…and now they have to make actual judgements if they should/shouldn’t be detained?
- Downstate - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 9:49 am:
I keep trying to post the stories, but my comments won’t load.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 9:52 am:
===I keep trying to post the stories, but my comments won’t load.===
Because your “stories” do not back up your claim.
- Flyin'Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 10:02 am:
This is the final result of worshipping orange-plated grifters.
Your paranoia and baseless rants start contradicting each other.
You know longer know up from down, left from right, or if Tuesdays come in twos or once a week.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 10:06 am:
===This is the final result of worshipping orange-plated grifters===
Sheriff Hain is a Democrat.
- Cool Papa Bell - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 10:09 am:
=jail population increased from a daily average of 270 in 2023 to 320 in 2024.=
So more bad people are now being held?
Or more bad people were being let out before?
Or wait for it… Crime is up and the party in charge isn’t doing anything about it?
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 10:48 am:
=Post a link or you’re going into timeout.=
Can you put the good sheriff in timeout as well?
Also, as others have pointed out, the sheriff may be unintentionally making the case for the new law.
- Stan - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 11:27 am:
A scan of local and national news highlights that county sheriffs aren’t the brightest bunch. We need real campaigns for these posts; the good ole boy network is dangerous.
- Suburban Mom - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 12:03 pm:
So what I’m inferring is that Kane County was probably letting a lot of DV offenders out on bail and now they have to treat domestics like actual crimes.
But maybe existing in the world as a woman for 40+ years has made me a cynic.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 12:15 pm:
=But maybe existing in the world as a woman for 40+ years has made me a cynic.=
Maybe, but is also probably the fact that for most of our history DV offenses were not taken seriously.
- Excitable Boy - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 12:55 pm:
Sounds to me like people are now doing their jobs instead of letting cash be the scapegoat. Good news all around.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 1:33 pm:
This should have been the expected result. We’ve leveled the playing field. When money is not a factor, more dangerous people are kept in jail.
- Motambe - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 1:37 pm:
Fentanyl distributors downstate have taken advantage of the “catch and release” option (as the Randolph County Sheriff calls it ) to be back on the street and selling 24 hours later. That is verified in weekly newspaper reports on arrests and court cases. The law should be amended to give state’s attorneys the authority to hold for prosecution those in possession of dangerous substances.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 1:45 pm:
==The law should be amended==
The State’s Attorney’s can make an argument to hold anyone. It’s up to them to convince the judge why.
- Benjamin - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 2:06 pm:
@Motambe: can you provide examples of the newspaper reports in question?
- Excitable Boy - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 2:09 pm:
- have taken advantage of the “catch and release” option -
It’s not theirs to take. Your problem is with the judge and prosecutor.
- GoneFishing - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 2:12 pm:
Sounds like the “catch and release” option is a way for the States Attorney to make the current law look bad. Or they just don’t want to do their job to convince the Judge to hold them until trial. Remeber the only point of bail was to hand over money to make sure you came to trial. If you didn’t have the money you couldn’t be trusted to come to trial yourself. It says so in Magna Carta.
- Lefty Lefty - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 2:38 pm:
Ron Hain is a Democrat and also a huge proponent of civilasset forfeiture. Even wrote a book about it!
https://reason.com/2017/11/15/cop-who-called-asset-forfeiture-a-tax-li/
He has also picked a fight with the mayor of Aurora that it appears he’s going to lose.
Sheriffs gonna sheriff.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 2:38 pm:
===That is verified in===
Links or you’re in time out.
- Lurker - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 3:10 pm:
Just as an aside, I am an old parent that never spanked my children and instead used a newer, controversial method of time-out. I was ridiculed by other parents. I’m loving that I was right and I’m loving this thread(bp)
- former southerner - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 3:13 pm:
===Links or you’re in time out.===
Rich, I really wish you would put on a clinic for major national reporters in how to properly interview major candidates who are used to getting away with fiction!
I love your succinct way of calling out attempts to “mislead” as it is delicately called by far too many media types.
- Dotnonymous x - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 3:53 pm:
It seems that many Sheriffs just can’t get no satisfaction.
- TheInvisibleMan - Tuesday, Sep 17, 24 @ 5:10 pm:
–Ron Hain is a Democrat and also a huge proponent of civil asset forfeiture.–
He’s a Glasgow Democrat.
While he didn’t literally write the book on it like Hain, Other local attorneys are not as amused with how he is running asset forfeiture through the county office.
https://www.shawlocal.com/the-herald-news/2024/05/18/joliet-attorney-raises-constitutional-challenge-to-illinois-civil-forfeiture/