By Natalia Mittelstadt
Updated: September 18, 2022 - 11:06pm
One hundred of the 102 state's attorneys in Illinois are opposed to the state's new cashless bail provisions, which are set to take effect next year for crimes such as second-degree murder.
The state's new criminal justice reform law — the Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act — is a 764-page omnibus bill that was passed by the state Senate at 4 a.m. on the last day of a lame duck legislative session and passed by the state House less than 24 hours later. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the measure into law in January 2021, but provisions such as abolishing cash bail and not allowing trespassers to be removed from properties by police will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.
Some county and village boards, such as Boone County and Orland Park Village, have unanimously approved resolutions to repeal or change the SAFE-T Act.
According to a press release from the Orland Park Village Board, a suburb of Chicago, cash bail will be abolished for crimes such as "kidnapping, armed robbery, second degree murder, drug induced homicide, aggravated DUI, threatening a public official and aggravated fleeing and eluding."
Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau (R) told "Just the News, Not Noise" TV show on Thursday that the cashless bail isn't the only issue with the law.
"It's the fact that trespassers cannot be removed from your property by police," Pekau said. "They can't lay a hand on someone. So how are you going to get someone who's living in your shed or in your pool or took camp in your business to actually leave? And it's going to lead to people taking the law into their own hands, which I don't think any of us thinks is a really good idea."
https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/100-102-illinois-states-attorneys-oppose-cashless-bail-letting-2nd-degree