This morning, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld a state law to eliminate cash bail for defendants awaiting trial across the state.
The ruling goes into effect state-wide on September 18, as Illinois will become the first state to fully abolish cash bail.
The elimination was a part of the SAFE-T Act, which was passed by the Illinois state legislature in 2021.
Naperville Chief of Police responds to the elimination of cash bail
Naperville Chief of Police Jason Arres emphasized the department’s preparation for this decision dating back to the new year.
“We had already trained our staff in preparation for when this change was originally supposed to go into effect January 1,” said Arres. “We’ll update our training and be ready to comply with the law in September.”
Response from DuPage County State’s Attorney
DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin said today that “public safety remains my top priority.”
“I will continue to advocate, as I have from the beginning, for a pretrial system similar to that in New Jersey which allows judges to detain a person for any crime where prosecutors prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant will not appear in court, the defendant poses a danger to any other person or the community, or the defendant will obstruct or attempt to obstruct justice, or threaten, injure, intimidate or attempt to threaten, injure or intimidate a prospective witness or juror,” said Berlin in a statement.
Ruling from the Illinois State Supreme Court
In the 5-2 ruling Tuesday morning, Illinois Supreme Court justices overturned the December 2022 ruling from a Kankakee circuit court judge, who declared certain parts of the SAFE-T Act set to launch in the new year unconstitutional.
That ruling was in response to a class action lawsuit filed by prosecutors and sheriffs within 65 counties, and effectively put a stop to the January 1 launch of elimination of cash bail within those counties.
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