How Graham Platner's Campaign Is Trying to Do Damage Control After Nazi Tattoo...
Even CNN Is Calling Out Dems Over This Lie About Trump's White House...
Is This the Most Insane Reaction to President Trump's East Wing Project
These Are the People Democrats Want to Tax You to Pay for
'Lassie' and 'Lost in Space' Actress June Lockhart Dead at 100
When There Are No Words: Hundreds Honor Teen Who Gave Life After Losing...
What Could Go Wrong? Scientists May Have Found a Real-Life Jurassic Park Starter...
Government—Necessary and Intolerant
Trump Administration Fires Back at Hillary Clinton Over White House Ballroom Renovations
A Quick Bible Study Vol. 291: What the Old Testament Says About Weakness
Two Defendants Convicted of Conspiring to Provide Material Support to ISIS
Justice Department to Monitor Polling Sites in California, New Jersey
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Asks Reporter if the Word Illegal Alien is 'Sci-Fi'...
Zohran Mamdani Says That Muslims Were Hit Hard After 9/11
Feds Charge 33 in Philadelphia’s Most Prolific Drug Market: Weymouth Street DTO
Tipsheet

'System Racismic' Is Why One State Eliminated Its Cash Bail System

LightFieldStudios/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Monday signed a criminal justice reform bill that eliminates the cash bail. The Prairie State is the first state in the country to eliminate the system.

Advertisement

Those who take issues with cash bail frequently say poorer communities of color are disproportionately impacted by the system.

"This legislation marks a substantial step toward dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our communities, our state and our nation and brings us closer to true safety, true fairness and true justice," Pritzker said in a statement. "In this terrible year, in the middle of a brutal viral pandemic that hurt Black people and Brown people disproportionately, lawmakers fought to address the pandemic of systemic racism in the wake of national protests. This bill was also infused with solutions from individuals most directly impacted: survivors of domestic violence, survivors of crime, and those who have been detained pre-trial only because they are poor. Today we advance our values in the law - progress secured despite the pandemic, because of the passion and push of the Legislative Black Caucus, activists, advocates, and residents intent on leaving a better Illinois for all our children."

In addition to eliminating cash bail, a "use of force standard" will have to be defined by Jan. 1, 2022, and all law enforcement officers will be required to wear body cameras by 2025. Funds will also be allocated towards mental health services and low-level drug offenders will be diverted to rehab.

Law enforcement agencies, however, disagree with the move, saying the state legislature and governor ignored more than 120,000 people who signed a petition in opposition to the bill, Fox News reported. The coalition includes "the Illinois Sheriffs' Association, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, Illinois Troopers Lodge 41 and state and local branches of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police."

Advertisement

"Because we are sworn to protect and serve the public, we sincerely hope that we will not be proven right about this new law, that it won't cause police officers to leave the profession in droves and handcuff those who remain so they can't stop crimes against people and property," the Illinois Law Enforcement Coalition said in a statement. "Please don't let us measure its dismal failure by the shattered lives it produces."

According to The New York Times, the cash bail system will remain in effect until Jan. 2023. This will give court officials time to prepare for the judicial system's overhaul. 

Other states, like California, New York, and New Jersey, have tried to implement similar changes. Illinois repeatedly tried over the last few years. It was the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement that prompted the reform. 

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement