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* Mark Maxwell…
In St. Clair County, home to some of the most severe poverty anywhere in the state, taking money bonds out of the system amounts to a major disruption, both for the government entities tasked with upholding justice and for many of the private attorneys that make their living defending the accused.
“Lawyers won’t want to do this work anymore,” one attorney quipped. “This is going to eviscerate the private bar.”
Defense attorneys who take cases to represent their clients often make their money by placing a lien against the bond payments. Now that the system is removing those funds from the equation, private lawyers and county clerks stand to lose significant streams of reliable revenue.
If the incentives for private attorneys dry up, then the public defender’s office could see their workload swell even larger. In addition to the expectation of higher caseloads, the county workers anticipate more vigorous work in the early phases of their client’s cases when the judge assesses their risk.
“I don’t have enough lawyers to handle both the beginning and end stages of the case in great detail,” [St. Clair County public defender Cathy MacElroy] said. “There’s only so many hours in a day.”
* PD MacElroy, by the way, has just five full-time public defenders on staff. In addition to their daily caseloads, MacElroy told Maxwell that her defenders represent 360 of the 474 people currently sitting in the county jail, many of whom have filed for pretrial release.
The General Assembly appropriated $10 million in new, additional funding for suburban and Downstate public defenders, but the Illinois Supreme Court has not yet distributed the money. *Heavy sigh*
*** UPDATE *** From the Illinois Supreme Court…
Rich,
I noticed your comment on the PD Fund (created by PA 102-1104). This has been stayed until Sept. 18 so is not possible to distribute the funds before then. There has been a lot of work to prepare for the distribution. This was included in the release we just sent out on preparations for the end of cash bail:
The 101 counties that are a part of the fund will receive from $77,000 up to $147,555 using a formula based on several factors. This additional funding is expected to be transformative for public defenders and their clients across Illinois. It is expected to be distributed in the next few weeks.
* Meanwhile, ABC 7 got a look at a new $20 million renovation and expansion of DuPage County’s judicial facilities…
“What people need to realize in DuPage County is, we are the second biggest judicial circuit in this state. We have 48 judges, the second biggest number of judges in this state,” said 18th Circuit Chief Judge Kenneth Popejoy.
Popejoy called the new $20 million renovation and expansion “necessary tools.” […]
The improvements include new courtrooms, a new, expanded grand jury room, more space for the public defender and a renovation of space for the state’s attorney. The new square footage means more space for additional staffing necessary to navigate new challenges brought on by the SAFE-T Act.
“We are going to be seven days a week, 365 days a year having detention hearings. These hearings must take place within 24, 48 or 72 hours. We have to be available Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 in the afternoon to do hearings. Bond court never used to be that way; 15-20 minutes, this bond, this bond, this bond, this bond, go home,” Popejoy said.
Cash bail let the system off easy. We’ll see if the actors are up to the new order.
* Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell Jr. described Chief Judge Popejoy’s “15-20 minutes, this bond, this bond, this bond, this bond, go home,” depiction in highly stark terms…
“You go to a bond hearing, it sounds like a slave auction. People are talking very fast. They’re putting price tags on people’s freedom.”
* Context from the AP…
Between 1970 and 2015, there was a fivefold increase in the number of people jailed before trials, according to the 2022 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report. Data shows more than 60% of defendants were detained prior to trial because they couldn’t afford to post bail, and that nearly 74% of the 631,000 people jailed daily in the United States are awaiting trial.
* Last item…
Today, nearly one hundred organizations sent an open letter to the Illinois State’s Attorney Association urging them to align with the collective statewide effort to faithfully implement the Pretrial Fairness Act.
Read the letter here: https://t.co/vZnEKhyemO
— Coalition to End Money Bond (@endmoneybond) September 13, 2023
Some members of your association have opposed this legislation and spread misinformation about it from the moment it was introduced and have continued to engage in fear-mongering about its impact even after it was upheld by our highest court. Others have supported this reform from the beginning, while more came to the table to collaborate on making modifications in the trailer bill. Some prosecutors have acknowledged your collective responsibility to abide by the law in the wake of the recent ruling. Every member of the State’s Attorneys Association has a responsibility to call on its members to cease all continued attempts to deliberately obstruct the law’s implementation. Ample time and space was provided to craft this policy and prepare to enact it—now it’s time to put differences aside to protect community safety and the rights of those harmed and those accused
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 10:59 am
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“Every member of the State’s Attorneys Association”
Hopefully they have elected a new president. Because Jim Glasgow was *unanimously* elected the president of the IL SAA in 2021 by his fellow State’s Attorneys. So, which side of their mouth are the SAs speaking out of this time?
https://willcountysao.com/2021/01/will-county-states-attorney-james-glasgow-elected-president-of-illinois-states-attorneys-association/
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 11:07 am
I have absolutely no sympathy for private attorneys losing out on the bilkings from the loss of cash bail. Cash bail contributes so much to the oppression of people of color that I serve in st Clair county. Maybe they need to pour more money into the public defenders office instead of throwing people of color to the private attorney wolves.
Comment by Honeybear Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 11:19 am
==I have absolutely no sympathy for private attorneys losing out on the bilkings from the loss of cash bail. Cash bail contributes so much to the oppression of people of color that I serve in st Clair county. Maybe they need to pour more money into the public defenders office instead of throwing people of color to the private attorney wolves.==
Yeah those monsters, expecting to be paid for their labor. What cheek.
Comment by Sad Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 11:26 am
===expecting to be paid for their labor===
Not one person said attorneys should not be paid at all.
Good try.
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 11:32 am
We finally got to the real reasons the sheriffs and GOP opposed the bill, they were worried about making sure attorneys don’t lose out. /s
🤪
Comment by Lurker Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 11:45 am
== Not one person said attorneys should not be paid at all.
Good try ==
Eye roll.
Yeah, they’re just taking away attorneys’ best tool to ensure that they do get paid. Because accused criminals typically aren’t regarded as great credit risks.
If it would help you get your head around it, maybe think of it as the lawyers’ version of the pension protection clause. Ensuring they get paid for the work they already did. Who on this blog could be against that?
Comment by Sad Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 11:51 am
It’s too bad that lawyers will lose income because of the end of cash bail.
You know who lost income because of the old cash bail system? People who had not been convicted of anything. If they couldn’t come up with the money to get out of jail, they lost jobs, homes, even their children.
Perhaps the lawyers can go to work for the public defender’s office.
Comment by Teacher Lady Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 11:52 am
Public defenders are drinking out of firehoses now.
Courts will now open all weekends to meet the Pretrial Fairness Act?
This should go over well, I hope they’re all ready for it. They’ve had over a year to prepare but I’m guessing since it’s government it’ll be a hot mess.
Comment by Frida's boss Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 11:53 am
===Eye roll.
Yeah, they’re just taking away attorneys’ best tool to ensure that they do get paid.===
Attorneys are a crafty lot.
They can figure out another way to “ensure” payment, which is unlike what you wanted to say before is no one wants to pay attorneys.
===as the lawyers’ version of the pension protection clause. Ensuring they get paid for the work they already did. Who on this blog could be against that?===
The adults are talking about the cash cow aspects. Wrap your head around that.
Tough to find sympathy for lawyers. Ask around.
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 11:55 am
=You know who lost income because of the old cash bail system? People who had not been convicted of anything.=
Louder for the people in the back.
Comment by Cool Papa Bell Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:03 pm
Private attorneys being paid based on the amount of bond is a disincentive for them to fully go to bat for their clients. What a ridiculous system we’re moving away from.
“Bond court never used to be that way; 15-20 minutes, this bond, this bond, this bond, this bond, go home,”
This turned our courtrooms into a center of business rather than justice. Good riddance.
Comment by NIU Grad Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:05 pm
==Ensuring they get paid for the work they already did.==
I think we’re conflating a few different things. Obvously, everyone should be paid for the work they do. But…haven’t the relevant lawyers been so paid? I guess a few during the transition might not get to put a lien on the bond payments because there won’t be any anymore, but they’ve had a LOT of early warning, no one was forcing them to continue to use liens. Is it clear that a large number of them have, warnings be damned, still using liens, as opposed to the other ways to get paid?
Moving forward, of course, no attorney will be forced to take these cases, and if they do so, they can work out a different method of getting paid. There’s an element of caveat emptor here.
Comment by Arsenal Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:07 pm
Safety act pickpockets attorneys. Far out
Comment by Rabid Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:08 pm
I’m still waiting for the report of the number of County Jail officers that can be deployed to patrol. If people are being detained as much we will have less need for jail guards, right? and to that end, if there is more of a need for public defenders, I might know a place the county can manage the budget to add those- Jail staffing?
Comment by frsutrated GOP Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:22 pm
===I’m still waiting for the report of the number of County Jail officers that can be deployed to patrol. If people are being detained as much we will have less need for jail guards, right? and to that end, if there is more of a need for public defenders, I might know a place the county can manage the budget to add those- Jail staffing?===
Boy, that’ll really change how “central and downstate” counties look at the need for law enforcement and county jails… are guards trained to be on patrol in those counties?
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:29 pm
===I’m still waiting for the report of the number of County Jail officers that can be deployed to patrol.===
Without successfully completing the law enforcement training course & passing the exam, jail officers can’t “patrol” … no matter what jail officers from Cook County say. Two totally different training programs.
Comment by Anyone Remember Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:30 pm
- Yeah, they’re just taking away attorneys’ best tool to ensure that they do get paid. -
The best tool an attorney has for that is to take the fee up front. All this did was incentivize lazy attorneys to take loser cases because they knew they’d get a cut of the bail. A cynic might argue it incentives them to lose the case so that bail is forfeited.
Comment by Excitable Boy Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:31 pm
Boo hoo boo hooo…wailing and gnashing of teeth
Private attorneys lost their way of bilking clients
So they have no financial incentive to take a case
Boo hoo boo hoo
Gnash gnash wail wail
Now I have to compete with other attorneys for wealthy clients and not make a quick buck off cases I can quickly churn.
It’s not fair
Boo hoo boo hoo
I demand that my law practice be highly lucrative at the expense of others personal freedom.
Their poverty is not my concern
S/
Comment by Honeybear Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:33 pm
If only counties had the ability to shift funding from their soon-to-be-empty jails, so they could hire additional public defenders.
If. Only.
I get that this means displacing correctional officers and sheriff’s staff maybe.
There is no shortage of states still trying to grow their jail population, or municipalities trying to hire more law enforcement officers.
We should be open to assisting displaced workers who need to relocate. Hey, maybe Alexi will have a proposal out by this time tomorrow to fund them to provide security for libraries. “Good government is good politics.” Pay them to go to law school to become public defenders if that’s what they want. Put every idea on the table, and invite me to the meeting, I have a lot more.
At the same time, Democrats and Republicans have been working together for 20 years now to try to reduce the population of Illinois prisons and jails. While they might not agree always on how to get there, at the end of the road this is not a partisan issue. Anyone who thought all the jobs in all the jails were going to be there forever was not paying attention.
Comment by Thomas Paine Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:36 pm
Attorneys withdraw from cases all the time for non payment. It is no big deal. Having the bond money turned over as a fee just let attorney know money was available. Now attorneys will just ask for the money up front before they will file an appearance. May end up with more work for public defender but many people have a very low opinion of them so they will try to get private at. Really public defenders are some of the best defense lawyers around although usually overworked
Comment by DuPage Saint Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:42 pm
Imagine if the states attorneys who opposed the Safe-T Act had raised these issues during the 2+ years this was being discussed before implementation? Then we could have had a productive discussion of the costs, on all sides, of running the criminal justice system.
Instead, they hoped that scaremongering would work. They were wrong. Maybe they should learn to read the room.
Comment by Socially DIstant watcher Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:45 pm
If you think an attorney doesn’t have a half dozen ways to ensure they get paid for their labor, you have never employed a lawyer.
Comment by Flyin'Elvis'-Utah Chapter Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:46 pm
So now the right is the champion of trail attorneys? Up is down and day is night.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 12:50 pm
Criminal defense attorneys will have to ask for a retainer in order to represent their clients. Period. Same as attorneys already do in traffic cases and in marriage dissolutions. I don’t see this crippling any practices.
Comment by Liberal Muse Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 2:04 pm
Will PD and SA just default to a new structure to speed through bond hearings? Before the chief judge’s order and change in law, hearing in Cook were so quick: Prosecutor speaks briefly, PD stays silent, judge issues cash bond predetermined before the hearing.
Comment by Original Anon Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 2:20 pm
I remember the defense attorneys, the Seekers of Truth,Fairness, and a Just Process speaking out about the unfairness of cash bail on many occasions. (Snark)
Silver lining unintended result right here.
I do think we are going to have to beef up both the public defenders offices and the states attorneys offices state wide. It is my personal belief that will result in a much more fair process. We shall see.
Comment by Occasionally Moderated Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 2:43 pm
My point about jail personnel. During the debate did we get a discussion of a number of people in jail who won’t be there going forward, and the current costs or savings to counties? My guess is there are some significant savings to be found. So either there are a number of people being held who can’t make bail, or it’s not such an issue and our jails are full of really bad people who won’t get bail regardless, which means there are other places those resources can go to, people and money. Perhaps some of those counties can rent out their space to the State if it’s over crowded. Have no idea, but not a lot of discussion on jail needs, which would be helpful and interesting.
Comment by frustrated GOP Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 2:46 pm
===My point about jail personnel===
They can’t go on patrol
You also trolled the idea of public defenders for some reason
Jail space versus Prison space is two different forms of incarceration.
The state would like to close prisons.
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 3:02 pm
Loss of bail money that funded operations may be being replaced by towing cars and related charges. A ticket for no insurance resulted in towing which I don’t believe was protocol until now. Gots to get the $$$
Comment by Sense of a goose Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 3:32 pm
In the short term this will simply lead to less attorney representation. That won’t change until the federal courts get involved and establish cases meant decrees forcing county governments to raise taxes to hire much larger public defender offices with much higher pay. We’ve seen this rodeo before it’s a classic Illinois unfunded mandate.
Comment by Merica Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 3:35 pm
“A ticket for no insurance resulted in towing which I don’t believe was protocol until now.”
Oh no, the Lincoln Park Pirates are getting back together? This time they are grabbing car out from under us? /s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF3q7o8Yjrg
Comment by Huh? Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 4:31 pm
Working off the bond is/was a Cook County thing. It doesn’t happen that much in the colllar counties. I am not sure how often it happens in the rest of the State.
Comment by Guzzlepot Wednesday, Sep 13, 23 @ 5:02 pm