With just over three months until the end of cash bail in Illinois, a state lawmaker is proposing some adjustments to the SAFE-T Act to clarify when criminal suspects can be detained until their trial.
Prosecutors have complained that the law as written will make it difficult to hold many individuals, even when they are accused of forcible crimes like aggravated battery, kidnapping, or assault. Democratic state senator Scott Bennett’s proposal would allow judges to detain any suspect if there is a reasonable belief that the individual could pose a threat to public safety.
Some criminal justice groups say Bennett’s revisions go too far and defeat the purpose of the original bill to end racial and financial disparities in how people are incarcerated before trial.
