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SAFE-T Act coverage roundup

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Illinois

* Let’s go back to that Chicago Tonight interview…

Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie L. Mosser: The first thing that I do want to say is that I am absolutely in favor of eliminating cash bail, because it has caused problems within our criminal justice system. So I’m a proponent of the criminal justice reform. The problem that we’re having with this is it limits who we can ask to be detained as state’s attorneys and who judges can detain. In the example you just gave, they talk about forcible felonies, but there’s also provision that specifically says that it has to be forcible felonies that are non-probationable… So the ones that we can hold are people who are going to go to DOC if they’re found guilty of the crime. But there are many forcible felonies that are probationable. That includes robbery, second degree murder, kidnapping, aggravated battery, arson, burglary, intimidation, threatening a public official. And when you go outside of the realm of forcible felonies, there’s so many other offenses that because of the way the SAFE-T Act is drafted, we can’t ask to be held. Any drug offense, including our Super X amounts where people are dealing fentanyl that is killing people, they can’t be detained. People who have done a drug induced homicide who have dealt a drug to somebody else, and that person has lost their life cannot be detained because of the way it’s drafted. […]

Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell: There are multiple paths that a prosecutor can pursue when it comes to detention or petitioning for detention. So what we’ve talked about is safety, but prosecutors can also ask for detention on the grounds of flight. And prosecutors can also ask for attention on the grounds of violation of release. So we will see people after January 1, that are charged with those offenses, where prosecutors can make the petition who are on detention. […]

Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis): Ms. Mosser and Mr. Mitchell were both correct in what they said. But I would say one thing to distributional is point rather, willful flight is supposed to be applied in a very limited fashion. In fact, the prosecutor has to learn more than just simply a past failure to appear in court. Prosecutors have to demonstrate that this person from out of state and they have a plane ticket to leave with a passport. It’s going to be very limited and very rare. Of course, the prosecutor can also ask for someone to have their pretrial release revoked when they commit another crime, but we shouldn’t have to wait for a second crime to be committed when somebody’s committed a burglary or robbery or an arson. That should be enough for them to be held pretrial and the disposition of the case. […]

Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell was asked about flight risk: Well, we know that there are a whole states that only have flight as a reason for detention. So for instance, New York, they don’t have a public safety exception for detention. Flight is the only reason why a person shouldn’t be detained. So I don’t think the prosecutors will have that difficult of a job. And with that said, I think it’s also important to note that we are talking about individuals that are accused of innocence. And we know that here in Cook County, only about, I think it was 2019, only about 60% of people who are accused of a felony were actually found guilty. There were people who were dismissed. There were people who were found not guilty. And that’s a flawed system. That’s the way the system is supposed to work. These are allegations. And we are before trial. That’s supposed to be the exception to the rule. We know that from a conservative Supreme Court. It’s actually Justice William Rehnquist, who said that detention is supposed to be the exception to the rule and not the rule.

* Meanwhile, Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe, a Democrat, has filed suit to declare the SAFE-T Act unconstitutional mainly based on this passage from the Illinois Constitution…

All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for the following offenses where the proof is evident or the presumption great: capital offenses; offenses for which a sentence of life imprisonment may be imposed as a consequence of conviction; and felony offenses for which a sentence of imprisonment, without conditional and revocable release, shall be imposed by law as a consequence of conviction, when the court, after a hearing, determines that release of the offender would pose a real and present threat to the physical safety of any person.

But the Illinois Supreme Court’s own Commission on Pretrial Practices defined bail this way in its final report…

Bail: The process of releasing a defendant from custody with conditions set to reasonably assure public safety and court appearance. […]

“Bail” is often used to refer to the amount of cash that a defendant must post as a condition of release. “Bond” is sometimes treated as a synonym of “bail.” Understood properly, “bail” – which literally means, “release” – is a process of releasing a defendant from custody on conditions designed to assure both public safety and the person’s appearance in court. A “bond” occurs whenever a defendant enters an agreement with the court. The agreement may, but need not necessarily, include a financial condition, but can also or instead include a variety of other conditions such as electronic monitoring, curfews, supervised visits or appointments, etc.

* Related…

* More political pressure mounts to amend Safe-T Act which will end cash bail in Illinois: Republican nominee for Illinois attorney general Tom DeVore, along with other political leaders, are calling on changes to be made to the Safe-T Act. DeVore joins a list of other nominees and politicians pushing for the law to be amended before it takes effect come January 1, 2023.

* Illinois Republican AG candidate says Illinois’ SAFE-T Act can be improved, lawmakers must hurry: “The improvement is going to require putting deference, in some fashion with some guidelines, back in front of the judges that see these people day-to-day, that see the criminals in their communities, and who understand their communities,” Devore said at a new conference Thursday.

* Cash bond reforms will make Illinois more fair: I saw this firsthand when I attended bond court hearings a few weeks ago along with community advocates and other elected officials. The judges heard from the prosecutor about the charges but didn’t ask for additional details or background information.It really did just come down to whether they could pay bail.What I saw was disappointing and only reaffirmed my support to eliminate money bond in Illinois.

* Funding anti-violence efforts across Illinois: Ten months ago, in the midst of a pandemic-era crime surge, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker declared gun violence a public health crisis and pledged $250 million over three years to reduce shootings. The legislature was followed by the creation of the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention. State Senator Roberts Peters sponsored the bill. “We’re going to target areas where violence is at its worst, where people have to deal with violence on a regular basis and we’re not going to get bogged down in talking in conjecture about what’s happening,” Peters said.

* The conservative backlash to the SAFE-T Act is nothing new: Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell Jr. witnesses the impact of cash bail on Black communities daily. He routinely sits down with families, most often a mother, grandmother, aunt, or woman partner, he said, and negotiates what he calls a “ransom.” Essentially, that’s the amount of money families need to come up with to bond their loved ones out of jail. “Having a conversation of, ‘do you have $1,000? Do you have $5,000 or $10,000? Can you save a few checks up? Can you not pay a bill?’” he said.

* Illinois’ SAFE-T Act explained: Changes to bail policy have been implemented in smaller doses around the country, including the county in Texas that covers Houston. A University of Pennsylvania study found earlier this year that the jail time and repeat offenses both decreased, since that policy was put into place. Researchers at Loyola University Chicago will be tasked with studying the ongoing impact of the SAFE-T act here in Illinois.

* Bamani Obadele: Darren Bailey Needs to Stop Using the City for Political Rhetoric

* Illinois lawmakers share opposing views on controversial SAFE T Act: “When you look at the radical left and what they have done to the state of Illinois, a majority of Illinoisans are against it and we are seeing that with the SAFE T Act,” Neimerg said.

* 2 Police Officers Charged After Shooting Unarmed Man In Pilsen, Prosecutors Say: ‘Unprovoked Violence’: The officers have been charged with three felonies. They shot an unarmed man and then lied to prosecutors by saying they’d been fired upon first, Kim Foxx said. … The officers told authorities they’d been shot at first — but videotape of the incident directly contradicts that, and neither of the wounded people fired shots at the officers, Foxx said. The two officers were relieved of their duties by the Police Department, as well.

* There’s no ‘Purge Law’: Debunking right-wing propaganda about the SAFE-T Act: The SAFE-T Act doesn’t explicitly address what will happen to people currently incarcerated on money bonds on Jan. 1. But prosecutors have the ability under the law to petition for people charged with murder and other violent crimes to be jailed pretrial. Currently, those people would already be released if they came up with the money for bail. Also, under the current law, prosecutors such as Glasgow could have filed motions for people charged with serious violent crimes to be detained without bail, said Sharlyn Grace, a senior policy adviser for the Cook County public defender’s office. In Cook County, prosecutors, public defenders, and judges are working together to plan for the transition to an “in-or-out” system starting Jan. 1, Grace said.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 11:45 am

Comments

cash bail was discriminatory

like always comes down to the cops, judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney

the system was broken, hopefully this will help

Legislators/exec branch can always propose improvements to this law

but there are many more improvements to criminal justice to be had, just waiting to be addressed

considering we imprison more than any country in the world excl. china

Comment by halving_fun Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 11:58 am
Obviously I’m in the minority. I want longer sentences. Less parole and a reinstated death penalty. I better get examined.

Comment by Blue Dog Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 12:03 pm
“The judges heard from the prosecutor about the charges but didn’t ask for additional details or background information.It really did just come down to whether they could pay bail.”

This is the big question I have for GOP candidates that are vocally opposed to getting rid of cash bail.

The argument is that eliminating cash bail will result in fewer people awaiting trial being detained.

But we already have many people arrested for those crimes who are not detained simply because they have the money available to pay bail.

Right now, if two people are arrested for the same crime, one will be detained and one will be released, the only difference being that one has the money and the other doesn’t.

I don’t see how the current system is possibly defensible. Right now they are releasing the very suspects they are trying to fearmonger about releasing, just only if they can afford their cash bail.

Comment by The Velvet Frog Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 12:06 pm
Given all the baloney being thrown around by the states attorneys has convinced me that none are truly interested in justice.

Comment by Norseman Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 12:08 pm
I would have no problem with longer sentences for violent/more severe crimes. It seems like often sentences are surprisingly long for lesser crimes and surprisingly short for more severe ones.

But as for bail, it seems like whether someone is detained or not should be based on the circumstances of the crime. Not based on how much money they have.

Comment by The Velvet Frog Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 12:15 pm
Of course not, Norseman, state’s attorneys are elected. They are politicians.

Comment by Politicians Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 12:15 pm
=I want longer sentences. Less parole and a reinstated death penalty.=

So Texas. The death penalty there really has not curtailed crime.

Comment by JS Mill Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 12:17 pm
==Obviously I’m in the minority. I want longer sentences. Less parole and a reinstated death penalty. I better get examined.==

The first step is admitting you have a problem…

Comment by Chambananon Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 12:31 pm
A huge unsolvable problem with the death penalty is that sometimes they arrest the wrong guy and don’t figure it out until years later. That’s one heck of an “oops” if you execute them.

Comment by The Velvet Frog Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 12:32 pm
One thing I’d like to point out- it isn’t exactly that “the person with the money gets released”…

When cash bond is deposited, if the accused doesn’t show up for court or violates the term of the bond, the cash can be forfeited.

The person who “buys their way out of custody” at least has some skin in the game. And that is that they don’t want to lose their money (or more likely their families money.)

The real losers in this are going to be defense attorneys. The defense attorney is often paid out of the bond money that was posted pre-trial. I don’t mind that part at all.

Comment by Occasionally Moderated Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 12:43 pm
“The person who “buys their way out of custody” at least has some skin in the game.”

And the problem is that people who don’t have the money don’t have the “skin” to put in the game and avoid staying in jail.

Maybe there’s a potential issue with more people not showing up in court but I don’t think I’ve heard a single candidate bring that up. It has all been about “releasing criminals”. Which we do all the time right now if they are rich enough.

Comment by The Velvet Frog Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 1:08 pm
==I want longer sentences. Less parole and a reinstated death penalty.==

What evidence have you seen that these policies have been effective in the past or could be expected to be effective in the future? Just a gut feeling?

Comment by charles in charge Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 1:16 pm
Blue Dog, let me ask you this: why does the United States, the beacon of the Free World, have more people incarcerated than any other country in the world? That includes China, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba and any other undemocratic country.

The incarceration rate per 100,000 people is also the highest in world in the United States! Something isn’t working.

Comment by Oak Brook Boy Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 2:06 pm
” … reinstated death penalty.==”

Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, Dale Lash? Absolutely.

Anyone interrogated by Jon Burge’s “crew” ? No way.

Comment by Anyone Remember Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 2:26 pm
A question almost never asked towards the people who think a cash bail system is the way to go is how do they propose to ensure constitutionality?

Recently both Houston and Detroit have adopted huge cash bail reforms, not because legislators in their states took initiative, but because federal courts had to step in to ensure people’s constitutional rights are being protected.

https://apnews.com/article/lawsuits-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-michigan-detroit-76a38e8bd1c0432103068d0837aa2a0b

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-30/texas-bail-reform-reduced-jail-time-and-crime-new-study-says

Comment by Google Is Your Friend Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 2:33 pm
MSN has a linked article titled “Illinois Becomes The First State To Pass “The Purge” Law”

Good grief.

Comment by Baloneymous Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 3:04 pm
Good to see Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser directly engaged to get to the bottom of issues with the SAFE-T Act.

Is it just me or has Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow completely dropped out of sight since late August?

On News Nation July 13, Glasgow said a legal challenge would be filed, but I expected something better than what was filed out of Kankakee County.

Comment by John Lopez Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 3:04 pm
–Is it just me or has Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow completely dropped out of sight since late August?–

He just filed a lawsuit against the SAFE-T act.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 4:03 pm
A quick glance and Glasgows lawsuit looks like a copy/paste of the Kankakee SAs lawsuit.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Friday, Sep 16, 22 @ 4:05 pm