The Pritzker Administration and Democratic leadership have gone into full damage control mode on the SAFE-T Act in the past few weeks with the looming elimination of cash bail going into effect on January 1st. Meanwhile, 100 of Illinois’ 102 States Attorneys have sounded alarm bells on cashless bail – including multiple Democratic States Attorneys who have filed lawsuits to stop it.

“​​No cash bail is no cash bail. There’s going to be so many bad actors that are not going to be subject to bond hearings or detention hearings based on the law that he has created,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin.

Democrats can diminish and deflect all that they want, but by no discernable metric has the law been a success. Meanwhile, we’re already seeing the disastrous effects of the elimination of cash bail in other states that have passed similar legislation. New York eliminated cash bail for most non-violent offenses in 2019. 

Since going into effect in January 2020, New York’s bail reform law has led to an unprecedented massive rise in crime, violent reoffenders, and accused criminals skipping trial. According to the New York Post in February, “Nearly every single city police precinct has seen spikes in crime so far this year — including five in which the rate has doubled.” 

As a direct result of the new bail law, 20.1% of “felony arraignments” were rearrestedin 2021, with 16.1% failing to appear at arraignment. These stats could indicate an even more grim future on the horizon for Chicago which has already seen a 37% spike in crime since this time last year.

Bizarrely, Speaker Welch is sticking by the law. “We know the SAFE-T Act will help people, it will help people,” he said as reported by NBC5 Chicago.

“I guess it’s no surprise that so many Illinois Democrat political leaders continue to support legislation that makes law enforcement more difficult, more dangerous, and more expensive. So many of their Illinois Democrat colleagues have been indicted or convicted for corruption since 2019, they’re probably very supportive of the defund, disarm and demoralize law enforcement movement and overly sympathetic to criminal defendants,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy.

Seven Democratic State Lawmakers – including Speaker Madigan – and nine Chicago Aldermen have been indicted or convicted since Pritzker took office. The SAFE-T Act’s champion in the Senate, Elgie Sims, is currently facing an FBI investigation. 

Further, the SAFE-T Act is expected to lead to property tax hikes across the state as a result of unfunded mandates placed on law enforcement. 

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