But Illinois is about to overhaul the system that upended Ross’ life. Illinois’ Pretrial Fairness Act, which abolishes cash bail as a condition of pretrial release, will take effect Sept. 18, making Illinois the first state to end cash bail and a testing ground for whether — and how — it works on a large scale.
Judges can still keep people accused of serious crimes behind bars pretrial, but first would have to go through a more rigorous review of each case.
Critics say cash bail policies are especially unfair to Black people and other people of color. A 2022 federal civil rights report on cash bail systems found that courts tend to impose higher pretrial detention penalties on Black and Latino people, citing a study that showed Black men received bail amounts 35% higher than white men, and Latino men received bail amounts 19% higher than white men.
If only he could allow Illinois citizens to grow their own weed.
Nah. Still gotta look out for his buddies, lol.
Makes it easier for the next governor to do, so don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. I live in a state where I can take a huge amount of these things for granted, but as a result I feel like there’s less of a push to change things that are still a problem, so I’m always happy to see Midwestern states making progress because it motivates people in other states to make change too.
