18.Īlthough judges will no longer be able to impose cash bail conditions, they can decide to detain defendants if they pose a risk of committing more offenses or fleeing prosecution.Ĭash bail reform: 60% of people awaiting trial can't afford bail. 1, was postponed while the Supreme Court weighed an appeal from Attorney General Kwame Raoul. The provision, which had been set to take effect Jan. The Act’s pretrial release provisions set forth procedures commensurate with that balance.”

“Our constitution creates a balance between the individual rights of defendants and the individual rights of crime victims. “The Illinois Constitution of 1970 does not mandate that monetary bail is the only means to ensure criminal defendants appear for trials or the only means to protect the public,” the majority stated in its opinion. In a 5-2 decision, the state's high court overturned a lower court's opinion in December that a provision in the act doing away with cash bail violated the state constitution’s requirement that “all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties.”

The elimination of Illinois' cash bail system was part of a controversial criminal justice overhaul adopted in 2021 known as the SAFE-T Act, a measure that had seeking to transform the state's criminal justice system after the murder of George Floyd and other police killings. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a major criminal justice reform law is constitutional, allowing the state to become the first in the nation to end cash bail as a condition of pretrial release − a provision that has triggered debate on racial inequality and crime.

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