Six months after Illinois ended cash bail, the prison population has fallen

In one of the most serious cases at the detention hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building one day earlier this month, a judge ordered a teenager jailed pending trial after he was accused of shooting a woman in the neck during an attempted carjacking.

“It is difficult for a court to conclude that an 18-year-old is so dangerous,” Cook County Judge William Fahy said. “I cannot overlook the nature of this crime and the level of violence involved. … This poor victim was shot twice.”

More than six months after implementation of the law that abolished cash bail and reformed the state’s justice systems, counties have fallen into new patterns where longer detention hearings and money are no longer a factor in whether someone is released from jail .

Illinois was the first state in the country to ban cash bail by law, so the outcomes here would be closely watched. Now that half a year has passed, experts are taking stock of the Pretrial Fairness Act in practice, as advocates push for funding to support measures they say will make the law successful, especially for America’s underfunded public defense system the state.

“It’s a major change in the way things were done,” said Carolyn Klarquist, director of the Pretrial Fairness Unit of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, which oversees most appeals related to the law.

Newly released data from Cook County courts also offers the first glimpse of incarceration outcomes, though experts caution it is too early to compare court appearances and recidivism rates before and after the law.

The Pretrial Fairness Act has already brought significant changes to county jails, with population declines across the state and in Cook County, state and county data show.

Its implementation has also come with some growing pains. Appeals against judicial detention decisions have soared, putting pressure on state high courts and spawning new rules intended to stem the flow. The law, which aims to provide all defendants with a robust pre-trial defense, has underscored the lack of public defense resources in some mainly rural parts of the state.

Overall, however, new routines have taken hold, with the law in Cook County largely “working as intended,” according to a recent report from the Civic Federation and League of Women Voters in Cook County.

By the numbers

Since implementing the reforms in September, the Cook County Prosecutor’s Office has requested detention in about 18% of cases, with judges granting such petitions about 60% of the time, according to data from the chief judge’s office.

Across the state, judges have granted nearly 64% of detention requests submitted to them by prosecutors since the law took effect, according to data from the Office of Statewide Pretrial Services, which serves 74 counties.

Previously, suspects had to appear before a judge, who took them into custody or ordered their release, often on the condition that a bail amount was paid. Under the new system, prosecutors ask a judge to keep defendants in jail in cases deemed to pose a flight risk or danger to the public when charged with a criminal offense that warrants detention. All others are released after an initial appearance on conditions, sometimes including electronic monitoring.

Proponents of the law have long argued that cash bail has widened disparities in the system by disproportionately jailing people who are too poor to pay bail, often pointing out that under the old system, defendants were still allowed to be released if they could afford it.

However, the measure is controversial for those concerned about the provisions’ impact on public safety — especially Republicans. Opponents of Governor JB Pritzker have tried to portray him and his Democratic allies as weak on crime.

Since the Pretrial Fairness Act took effect, warrants have been issued in Cook County for failing to appear in court in about 10% of cases in which suspects were released, court data show.

When looking at new criminal activity, about 7% of those released are charged with a new, non-violent crime and 4% with a violent crime, the data show.

It is not yet clear how this compares to rates before the implementation of bail reform.

During a panel discussion Friday about the reforms, Don Stemen, a professor at Loyola University Chicago who studies the impact of bail reform, said the relatively short time frame in which the law has been in effect makes it difficult to draw conclusions about recidivism and the number of appearances in court. , although studies are in the works.

With shorter time frames, Stemen said, success rates can be high because there is less time to reoffend or miss court hearings.

“It’s a little early to talk about that,” he said.

However, the impact on the prison population is clear. In Cook County, the jail population is down about 13%, compared to snapshot days in September and April, according to county data. Despite initial concerns, the number of defendants engaging in electronic surveillance has also decreased.

According to a study from Loyola University in Chicago, the average daily statewide prison population fell in the first few months, even after accounting for expected seasonal fluctuations.

Challenges and future financing

In southwestern Jackson County, prosecutors initially filed warrants for nearly every eligible case, said county public defender Celeste Korando. Preliminary officers did not have a physical location where clients could report, she said Friday during a bail reform panel in the Loop.

Some of the early hardships have been ironed out. Prosecutors have become more discerning in filing petitions after learning what judges tend to grant, she said, and the county now has a physical office for pretrial services.

But she said resources are still scarce. Mental health treatment and assessment programs are lacking, and there are delays in equipping suspects with electronic monitoring due to manpower issues.

“In rural areas, because it is a more rural province, it is due to the lack of services,” she said, speaking of the challenges following the reforms.

In addition to eliminating cash bail, the law also sought to level the playing field for suspects for their first court appearance, with more robust hearings and opportunities to more accurately review the evidence.

While welcomed by stakeholders, they still recognize the burden placed on judges, lawyers and court staff, who are often already working with a scarcity of resources.

“I think that’s more true in court, there’s a lot more to do for judges, for prosecutors and for public defenders,” Klarquist said.

Supporters of the law are seeking funding to address some of these challenges, which they say have existed in the justice system long before the reforms.

An April report from the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice, which has advocated for bail reform, notes that county funding for prosecutors is often nearly double that of their public defender counterparts.

Cook County’s 2024 budget includes more than $204 million for the state’s attorney’s office, compared to more than $102 million for the public defender’s office, according to the report.

“Before the (Pretrial Fairness Act), it was a crisis,” Stephanie Kollmann, policy director of the Children Family Justice Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, said during a panel discussion on funding earlier this month. “When parole hearings do occur, they are much more robust than they used to be, which is good, but that does put a burden on public defenders, who in many cases already have a caseload that is two or three times the national one. recommended level.”

Although the Pretrial Fairness Act did allocate funding for public defense services, public defenders in rural counties have previously spoken about the difficulties in meeting requirements under the already stretched thin law, with fewer attorneys in their communities willing to provide public defenders defender work compared to larger urban areas.

Illinois Senate President Don Harmon proposed a bill earlier this month that would create a statewide office to provide additional support to public defenders. .”

Advocates are also pushing for what they call the “Pretrial Success Act,” which was introduced by Democratic lawmakers in February. The bill calls for $15 million for programs that help defendants navigate the pretrial criminal justice system, expanding access to mental health and drug programs and creating programs to remove barriers that cause people to miss court hearings, such as childcare and transportation. .

“Missing court is often not intentional,” said Briana Payton, director of policy and advocacy at Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. “Some barriers have very simple solutions.”