SAFE-T Act supporters hold two protests
Thursday, Oct 20, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Jacksonville Journal-Courier…
State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, will be joined this week by Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll and others for a discussion on changes being made to the criminal justice system through the massive Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act — commonly known as the SAFE-T Act.
* Wednesday press release…
This evening, Faith Coalition for the Common Good came together with concerned community members to disrupt Sen. Steve McClure and Rep. Sandy Hamilton’s SAFE-T Act Town Hall. This disruption was in response to misinformation that has been spread by right-wing political operatives seeking to undermine the law’s success.
“Over the last few weeks, right-wing operatives have spread misinformation about the Pretrial Fairness provision of the SAFE-T Act. These lies are rooted in racism and are meant to protect mass incarceration.
“The Pretrial Fairness Act was designed to protect everyone’s right to the presumption of innocence and ensure that nobody is jailed simply because they’re too poor to pay a money bond. Throughout Illinois, Black people are disproportionately jailed while awaiting trial. By passing the Pretrial Fairness Act, the Illinois legislature took a significant step towards addressing the harm pretrial incarceration has caused communities across our state. For decades, people have lost jobs, housing and even custody of their children, not because they were a danger to the community, but simply because they couldn’t afford to pay bond to secure their freedom.
“We oppose efforts to repeal the Pretrial Fairness Act or roll it back, like SB42228 which would further fuel mass incarceration, worsen racial disparities, and create a pretrial system that is far worse than the one in place today. Instead of suing the state or building opposition against this crucial reform, Sen. McClure, Rep. Hamilton and our county stakeholders should be working together to ensure this historic reform is properly implemented.”
Some video from last night…
* Today…
The Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice (INPJ) protested today in Dupage and Will Counties outside of the local state’s attorneys’ offices calling the state’s attorneys’ SAFE-T Act trailer bill (SB4228) unconstitutional and a violation of people’s rights. The group penned an open letter signed by more than 120 organizations calling on the Illinois General Assembly to protect the Pretrial Fairness provisions of the SAFE-T Act and oppose the State’s Attorneys proposal for gutting this historic legislation.
“It is absolutely essential that any future amendments to the Pretrial Fairness Act are made in the same spirit in which it was written.” said Katrina Baugh of The People’s Lobby. “Using this historic legislation as a vehicle for incarcerating more Black and brown people would be a slap in the face to the communities that have suffered under the injustices of the money bond system for decades.”
“The State’s Attorneys Association has not productively engaged in implementation conversations to ensure the safe and effective implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act,” said Reverend Marilyn Pagán-Banks of A Just Harvest. “Following the lead of right-wing operatives like Dan Proft, Jeanne Ives, and Dick Uihlein who’ve funded racist misinformation campaigns, the State’s Attorneys Association is exploiting this moment immediately before an election and attempting to use SB4228 to increase their power to jail vulnerable Illinoisans.”
The result of the State’s Attorneys Association’s political machinations is power-grab that would make the criminal legal system worse, not better.
“SB4228 is unconstitutional because it creates a presumption of detention in some cases, requiring the accused person to prove they deserve pretrial release,” said Em Gonzalez of Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice. “The Illinois Constitution grants a presumption of release to legally innocent people, and requires that the prosecution prove jailing a person pretrial is necessary and that that burden not be placed on a legally innocent person.”
Protestors also pointed out that SB4288 extends the timeframe a person must be brought to trial to 120 days from 90 days, making the right to a speedy trial even further out of reach and prolonging pretrial incarceration.
Worse still, that SB4228 would allow prosecutors to use evidence in their arguments for detention that would not have to be shared with the defense prior to a hearing. This would mean that accused people would have no way to challenge the evidence being used against them.
“The Constitution protects the presumption of innocence,” said David Cannon of West Suburban DSA. “Now these prosecutors don’t even want people to be able to properly defend themselves. It’s outrageous.”
If passed, the state’s attorneys’ bill would cause the number of people jailed while awaiting trial to skyrocket and exacerbate racial disparities in Illinois jails–the exact opposite of what the Pretrial Fairness Act was intended to achieve. Meanwhile, state’s attorneys representing counties that make up 50% of Illinois’ population support the Pretrial Fairness Act, and State’s Attorneys representing 60% of Illinois’ population support eliminating money bond. By contrast, many of the State’s Attorneys leading opposition to the Pretrial Fairness Act represent counties where Black residents make up at most 14% of the population, but up to half of the people admitted to their jails. Specifically:
“Illinois is currently jailing thousands of people simply because they’re too poor to pay a bond, not because they pose a danger to anyone,” said James Baugh, a resident of DuPage County. “While the current system limits who can be denied bond, SB4228 would allow prosecutors to ask that anyone be jailed indefinitely, far beyond the authority they had prior to the passage of the SAFE-T Act. We must protect the Pretrial Fairness Act”
From today’s event…
