The Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act has been a hot topic in the media for the past few weeks. There is lots of different information flying around about what it is and its effects on Illinois communities.
SAFE-T Act overview
The SAFE-T Act passed the Illinois Legislature on Jan. 13, 2021. The Act was signed into law by Pritzker on Feb. 22, 2021 and many of its provisions have already taken effect as of July 1, 2021.
“We have decades and decades of data that point out some of these inequities and some of these problems. And so I think kind of the impetus for this is trying to minimize and address some of these issues that exist,” said Professor Blasdell, department chairperson of sociology, criminology and anthropology.
Some of these provisions include mandates on a variety of police training. De-escalation, cultural competence and sensitivity, and increases in training on racial and equity issues are some training mandates in the act. There is an element that requires all police departments to have body cameras by a certain year. Also included are state-wide policies and regulations on the usage of those body cameras. The act also requires officers to perform medical intervention, if necessary, for individuals in their custody. These are just a few of the changes the act makes to the Illinois criminal justice system.
But there is another part of the act, a portion in the pre-trial section, that has drawn the most discussion and attention. That is the abolition of cash bail.
“The one, obviously, that’s getting the most attention is the abolition of cash bail. Which has caused quite a bit of confusion and misunderstanding. Understandably! Because it sounds really really scary if you don’t know the history of how our bail system has worked and you don’t know current practices as well,” said Blasdell.
The abolition of cash bail takes effect on Jan. 1, 2023. Confusion and differing facts surround the application of this and its consequences of it. The act only ensures the removal of cash bail. Judges can still decide that arrested individuals are too dangerous to their community to go free before their trial. If the judges determine the individuals are not a danger to their community during pre-trial, they can go without needing to pay bail money. This does have potential consequences. In releasing arrested individuals for pre-trial, there’s the possibility for them to go on to commit another crime. There is concern about this and about the release of individuals arrested for more violent offenses.
“So, I can’t say I’m the most knowledgeable about it but from what I’ve seen it seems like a lot of people are not understanding what it actually is and it’s being kind of taken in this, like, ‘there’s going to be murderers on the street!’ way when that doesn’t seem exactly the case… I don’t think we should be letting people who kill people out on the streets, but I think if you can like get people who don’t deserve to be in jail out of jail I think that would help a lot of black and brown people too, and people in impoverished situations,” said Kathryn Holland, ’23.
Violent offenders and the SAFE-T Act
Blasdell has her own points to this concern. She explains that violent offenders are already being allowed bail and released, so long as a judge decides they are not a threat to the community. This is already happening and has been for a while.
“The public has this idea, through no fault of their own, that all individuals who’ve been accused of violent crimes are automatically locked up and they’re not afforded bail. That’s not true. We have individuals who’ve been accused of violent crimes who have been released on cash bail. What we know, though, is most of the individuals who have been released on cash bail have been released because they have the money to post or pay that bail,” said Blasdell.
There are also some other factors to consider in regard to violent offenders, violent crime, and the act. For one, Professor Blasdell points out that we live in a community where almost all violent crimes are between individuals who know each other, not strangers. Secondly, the act does not support the release of every violent offender. In addition, there are some offenses for which judges cannot authorize pre-trial release. The judge’s determination of lack of danger to the community will continue to weigh into the decision as well.
Illinois has no designated “non-detainable offenses” and the SAFE-T Act doesn’t create any. However, there are crimes like forcible felonies, stalking, and domestic violence that ensure judges will not allow offenders to be released after their arrest.
“Violent offenders being released on bail is nothing new. What we’re doing is we’re just simply removing the cash component of it. Are some people going to be released who might reoffend and who might pose a threat to the community? Absolutely. But that happens now, they’re just paying a cash bond and then doing that,” said Blasdell.
Loyola University has partnered with the National Institute of Justice to study the implementation and analyze the effectiveness of the SAFE-T Act’s new pre-trial processes during its first year. Future amendments are a possibility to adjust what the act has set forth.
Inequality and the SAFE-T Act
“Overall, it was proposed as an attempt to create more fairness in the justice system in the state Illinois,” said Blasdell.
The act could potentially reduce inequality in the justice system. Although, this cannot be answered with certainty until all the various changes from the act have taken effect. The fact that the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus was behind the drafting and backing of this act may lend support to its intentions to reduce criminal justice inequality.
Resources
“I think it [the act]affects North Central students because they’re part of the general population, to begin, and it impacts them because they’re in a state that’s recognizing that there are some well-documented inequalities in the justice system. Not just in Illinois, but across the country and indeed in other countries as well,” said Blasdell.
To learn more you could read the SAFE-T Act itself, or there are some summaries of it from The Chicago Reader, The Illinois Justice Project and The Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability. For other recent news from our world to our community, check out our newspaper’s Weekly Update.
