Researchers say despite new 75-county data trove, it's still too early to judge new pretrial detention systemThe issue has been controversial, with some celebrating ending cash bail, with others saying it will cause harm., the state is taking its first steps in publishing the data that crafters of the bail reform law saw as essential to judging its effectiveness.
"Everyone wants to know: 'How's it going in Illinois?'" Olson said in an interview. "Well, which of the 102 Illinois do you want to hear about? There's 102 counties, and every one's a little bit different."The SAFE-T Act included a provision known as the Pretrial Fairness Act that ended the use of cash bail in Illinois, meaning a person cannot be jailed while awaiting trial simply because they can't afford a dollar amount assigned by a judge.
The data showed that about 52 percent of cases that were subject to an OSPS pretrial investigation contained at least one offense considered "detainable" under the SAFE-T Act. As of Friday, prosecutors had petitioned the court to detain the defendant in 62 percent of those cases. Four large counties that are not part of the OSPS - Cook, DuPage, Kane and McHenry - report some level of pretrial detention data individually. Detention petitions as of Friday were granted at a 38 percent rate in Kane County, 41 percent in DuPage and 40 percent in McHenry.
"And really, the reason for that is a lot of defendants previously who had warrants issued just, basically, they forgot about court," Olson said. Smith said OSPS has plans to add electronic monitoring data to a future version of its dashboard, and she added the agency has enrolled about 1,100 people in electronic monitoring.
Olson pointed to one example of how the numbers can be skewed in any individual county based on its practices. He said Loyola CCJ researchers were told by officials in southern Illinois' Williamson County that all arrestees are held in jail at least overnight prior to appearing before a judge. As a result, the OSPS conducted investigations on all of those individuals, even if their offense was low-level.