Illinois will become the first state in the country to completely abolish cash bail. Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has pushed for the elimination of cash bail, calling it “a monumental milestone toward achieving equal justice.”
“What this is seeking to address is if you’re a threat to the public, no matter how much access to cash you have, you should be detained if you are a threat,” Foxx said.
The Illinois Supreme Court upheld the law Tuesday in a 5-2 ruling, with Republican justices dissenting. It found that the elimination of cash bail is constitutional, overturning a lower court ruling that had put the law on hold from its initial Jan. 1 start day.“Our constitution creates a balance between the individual rights of defendants and the individual rights of crime victims,” the majority of the court wrote in its ruling.
Under the current system, when someone is arrested for a crime, they appear before a judge who decides if that person must remain in jail or if they can be released from jail pre-trial. Those arrested for certain crimes — including first- and second-degree murder, predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, aggravated criminal sexual assault and criminal sexual assault, robbery and burglary “where this is use of force against another person,” residential burglary, home invasion and vehicular invasion — can still be denied pretrial release.
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