But Illinois is about to overhaul the system that upended Ross’ life. Illinois’ Pretrial Fairness Act, which abolishes cash bail as a condition of pretrial release, will take effect Sept. 18, making Illinois the first state to end cash bail and a testing ground for whether — and how — it works on a large scale.
Judges can still keep people accused of serious crimes behind bars pretrial, but first would have to go through a more rigorous review of each case.
Critics say cash bail policies are especially unfair to Black people and other people of color. A 2022 federal civil rights report on cash bail systems found that courts tend to impose higher pretrial detention penalties on Black and Latino people, citing a study that showed Black men received bail amounts 35% higher than white men, and Latino men received bail amounts 19% higher than white men.
JB pritzker on a roll??
When Pritzker first got elected I was incredibly dubious. After all, we already had Trump as President and here is Pritzker, another hotel magnate, claiming he could do great things for Illinois. I have since been pretty impressed with everything he has done.
He’s kinda been crushing it. Definitely a pleasant surprise. I think putting 50 million of his own dollars towards campaigning for a tax system that would dramatically raise his own taxes was a pretty impressive demonstration that his approach is a bit different from Trump’s.
Also women’s healthcare, refugee support structures, LGBT inclusivity, legal recreational weed, union support, Election Day as a state holiday…the dude doesn’t suck.
If only he could allow Illinois citizens to grow their own weed.
Nah. Still gotta look out for his buddies, lol.
Makes it easier for the next governor to do, so don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. I live in a state where I can take a huge amount of these things for granted, but as a result I feel like there’s less of a push to change things that are still a problem, so I’m always happy to see Midwestern states making progress because it motivates people in other states to make change too.
I agree. Im disapointed in the lack of grow but we are in an oasis for our neighbors. Honestly might as well suck up the tax revenue until the holdout states invariably cave.
You just need a medical marijuana card, but finding a doctor who will issue one is a different story.
same
New Mexico mostly eliminated cash bail about seven years ago but there was still issues . I hope Illinois learned from our mistakes when they wrote their law .
What sort of issues did NM run into?
(And may I say, I love visiting and also am always surprised and amazed at how progressive and cool NM seems to be; I grew up in AZ… now in CO)
What’s the difference between cash bail and non-cash bail?
Cash bail is giving the court a lot of money as a pledge that you will show up for your trial. If you show up, you get the money back. The point is that it’s a life-changing amount of money and losing it would be worse than the consequences of being convicted.
Non-cash bail is mostly promising to show up for your court date and not commit any more crimes in the meantime, but there can be restrictions like wearing an ankle monitor and not leaving the state.
deleted by creator
