The Illinois Supreme Court issued a decision Tuesday that will allow a state law ending cash bail to take effect September 18, despite a crime wave and concern that arrestees will commit more crimes while awaiting trial.
The law passed last year and was signed by Gov. J. B. Pritzker (D). As Breitbart News reported last year:
A new law abolishing bail across the state of Illinois, passed by Democrats and signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), will free from jail thousands of suspects accused of second-degree murder, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, and other violent crimes.
Beginning January 1, 2023, Illinois will become the first state in the nation to have eliminated cash bail — even for some of the most violent crimes. As a result, local district attorneys say they will be forced to free thousands of suspects accused of crimes like murder and kidnapping.
A group of local law enforcement agencies sued to stop the law from taking effect, and a judge declared the law unconstitutional. That decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, which overturned it.
CWB Chicago reported:
In a 5-2 opinion released Tuesday morning, the court ordered the elimination of cash bail as approved by the legislature to take effect in 60 days, on September 18.
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The court’s written opinion on Tuesday said Kankakee County Judge Thomas Cunnington applied “uneven reasoning” in his December 28 ruling that found the elimination of cash bail to be unconstitutional.
Cunnington “ignored the plain language of the constitution,” the court wrote, pointing out that the state constitution “does not include the term ‘monetary’” when it says nearly all criminal defendants must be bailable by “sufficient sureties.”
A copy of the decision is available here.
Violent crime is on the rise in Illinois. SafeWise reported: “Illinois residents have the highest level of concern nationwide regarding violent crime, gun violence, and overall daily safety. Illinois also placed within the top five most concerned states for property crime and package theft. Illinoisans are also the least-likely Americans to feel safe in their state.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.