Half a year has rolled by since Illinois decided to scrap cash bail, and since then, jail populations are down, yet with this legal shake-up come the growing pains of a system under stress, the Chicago Tribune reports. Experts are poking around to see exactly how the Pretrial Fairness Act's playing out, and while the limelight's on Cook County, it's a statewide curtain-raiser others are keeping an eye on.
According to numbers collected by the Cook County courts, around 18% of cases saw prosecutors pushing for detention, but judges were only biting about 60% of those times. With some new rules being scribbled to try and ease the tension in the state's already squeezed courts and Cook County, the number of people cooling their heels behind bars has taken a 13% dive—from snapshot figures taken in September and then again in April, the Tribune tallies up.
However, the handcuff's other half is now public safety worries and the politicking that tries to pin the tail on the Democrats, with Illinois' Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his cohort being painted in Republican shades as soft on crime. Of those set free from custody, 10% were slapped with a warrant for failing to show up in court, some ended up being tagged with fresh, nonviolent raps at around 7%, and 4% found themselves cuffed for more violent stuff, but drawing a bead on these figures against times pre-reform is still a head-scratcher, according to the Tribune's deep dive.
The law's change-up has judges and lawyers stretching thin, with Carolyn Klarquist, the head honcho of the Pretrial Fairness Unit in the Office of the State Appellate Defender, letting it slip that there's plenty more for everyone to do since more robust defenses are the new norm, according to the Tribune. Smaller counties are also feeling the stretch, with public defenders fighting the good fight without enough greenbacks or boots on the ground to meet demands.
Meanwhile, WTTW News caught the Civic Federation and League of Women Voters of Cook County saying the transition's been "mostly smooth", scores going up for folks under pretrial supervision. Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx called it right, saying they'd been gearing up for this big shift long before cash bail got canned.
