Purging Disinformation

Governor JB Pritzker signed House Bill (HB) 3653, the SAFE-T Act (referred to as “the Act”), into law on Feb. 22, 2021. These changes to Illinois’ criminal justice system are designed to be implemented in phases, with the end of Illinois’ cash bail system taking place on Jan. 1, 2023.

Despite numerous reforms in place for over a year, mainstream media has reported very little about these progressive changes to the criminal justice system. According to supporters, the changes were long overdue and necessary following decades of abuse by rogue officers in Illinois against predominantly Black and Hispanic men, women, and children.

Instead, attention is focused on pretrial release reforms. In particular, section 725 ILCS 5/110-1.5 (pg. 335) pertaining to the pending elimination of Illinois’ cash bail system. In spite of being crafted with the cooperation of multiple law enforcement agencies across the state, a widespread disinformation campaign is spreading blatant lies across social media.

The 764-page bill includes three reform categories: corrections (jails and prisons), pretrial, and policing. And the bill represents the cumulative efforts of civil rights advocates, grassroots activists, artists, and politicians who have demanded changes to systemic racism ingrained in Illinois’ criminal justice system.

The Act establishes statewide standards in law enforcement for the first time, where previously there were none, and addresses critical reforms in safety, accountability, fairness, and equity.

What exactly are the facts? What’s fiction? And what’s the truth behind the rumor violent criminals will be released into the community come Jan. 1? And what in the world are “non-detainable offenses”? Let’s start at the beginning.

Accountability

When the Illinois Black Legislative Caucus took on the task of police reforms, accountability was at the top of their list. State Sen. Elgie Sims Jr. said on the day of its passage in the Senate: “This is a moment that presents a tremendous opportunity for us to fundamentally change the way we look at criminal justice in this state,” he told Injustice Watch, a nonpartisan watch group. 

An anonymous resident that got caught up in the George Floyd protests in 2020 said he experienced the lack of police accountability firsthand. On his way home, resident X was caught in a protest in downtown Chicago. “Before I knew it, the police started pushing me into the crowd. Then fists started flying and I got hit in the face by a white cop.” Resident X said he saw the cop’s name who hit him but didn’t file a complaint because of the affidavit requirement. 

According to section 2610/14 (pg. 49), police brutality victims can now file anonymous complaints about officers. “I was afraid of what would happen if I gave them my information,” he says. In the past, if you wanted to file a complaint against an officer, you also had to fill out an affidavit. 

In the eyes of policing advocates, eliminating the affidavit requirement will invite a flood of unnecessary complaints, which could result in the decertification of officers. 

Equity and Fairness 

Cristin Evans, spokesperson for the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), said in an e-mail to Chicago News Weekly: “ICJIA has been given responsibility for some of the Act’s provisions.” A total of fifty-three provisions of the Act must be overseen and implemented by the state agency. 

Provisions that aim to bring equity and fairness into the equation, such as: allows the attorney general power to investigate police departments that have a pattern of depriving individuals of their rights and bring a lawsuit against them (pg. 44); bans destruction of police misconduct records (pg. 66); expands race and sensitivity training for situations that can escalate into excessive use of force such as risky traffic stops, mental health crises, and implicit bias (pg. 76); and requires officers to issue a citation rather than arrest for certain low-level offenses, at the officer’s discretion (pg. 326); and sets up a process to decertify officers suspected of using excessive force (pg. 697).

Moreover, for the first time in history, the Act requires the tracking of civilian deaths while in custody, Article 3. (pg. 6) and reporting the deaths to the FBI National Use of Force Database (pg. 90). 

ICJIA “will collect and publish detailed data from law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities, … when a person dies in the custody of a law enforcement agency … when someone dies as a result of an officer’s use of force.” The data will be posted quarterly on ICJIA’s website, with recommendations and efforts to reduce in-custody deaths.

Safety Today

A Rockford Register Star op:ed by Winnebago County state attorney J. Hanley titled “More than half Winnebago County Jail inmates will walk out the door on Jan. 1” stated the following: 

“Approximately 400 criminal defendants will be released back into our community because our Illinois legislators passed the “SAFE-T Act” back in 2020.”

“While there are numerous issues with the new law, perhaps most problematic is that it only allows for even the possibility of pretrial detention for a small subset of crimes and under very limited circumstances — regardless of a defendant’s risk to re-offend or their known danger to the community. In so doing, the law eliminates prosecutorial and judicial discretion when determining which defendants should be released back into the community while their cases are pending.”

Although Rockford, Illinois is located 108 miles north of Chicago, Hanley’s concerns resonate with Chicago residents because hundreds of “criminal defendants” are awaiting their court dates in Cook County jail. There is fear and misconceptions that the same thing will happen in local communities throughout the state.

Cash bail is abolished across the board in the Act, with a few exceptions, and is specific to whom the elimination of bail applies (pg. 445). This section referred to as the Quasi-Criminal and Misdemeanor Pretrial Release Act specifies the cases where the Act applies:

“Whenever in any circuit there shall be in force a rule or order of the Supreme Court establishing a uniform form schedule prescribing the conditions of pretrial release for specified conservation cases, traffic cases, quasi-criminal offenses, and misdemeanors…”

Further, in more serious felony cases, the state’s attorney must prepare and present a risk assessment report (pg. 448) to the judge, and a decision about pretrial release must be made. Hanley’s assertion that the law eliminates prosecutorial and judicial discretion appears to be countered by the fact that defendants will continue to be detained if they are deemed a risk to the community.

The Chicago Community Bond Fund (CCBF), a non-profit organization that has provided bail money for incarcerated individuals since 2015, says in a video statement: “More than 90 percent of prisoners in (Cook County) jail have not been convicted of any crime. Most are incarcerated because they cannot afford to post bond.” And the Act was explicitly crafted with low-level and poor offenders in mind. 

“I don’t think you’re innocent until proven guilty,” says Lavette, a person bonded out of jail by CCBF who didn’t want to use her last name. “You’re guilty until proven innocent,” she says in the video. From November 2020 to November 2021, the organization, which is mostly volunteers, posted bail for 146 people – 131 from Cook County and 15 from other counties – in pretrial incarceration totaling $1.25M.

Facts v. Fiction 

Travel Noire, a Black-owned boutique travel company with 728K followers on Instagram and 432K on Facebook, published the story “Illinois Becomes The First State To Pass “The Purge” Law” on Sept. 12, 2022.

Referring to the Act, R. Pena writes: “And the consequences of passing such a law have many believing the state could mirror the horror movie “The Purge”[.] In the film, citizens were given 24 hours to commit all the crimes they wanted.”

Although very little context or facts were provided in the story, Yahoo! News republished it and received almost nine thousand comments. Moreover, it identifies second-degree murder and kidnapping among twelve crimes listed as “non-detainable offenses,” implying criminals will be able to walk away free with no cash bail come January 1.

Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for Gov. Pritzker, tells WGN News that “There is no such thing as a “non-detainable” offense. Any alleged offender could be detained because of a risk of flight or because they are a repeat offender and those charged with the most serious crimes – which are non-probationable – can also be detained for risk to public safety.”

In other words, criminals that are risks to the community will most likely remain in jail come Jan. 1, and there is no such thing as a non-detainable offense in Illinois law.

Click here for the full text of the SAFE-T Act.

Chicago News Weekly contacted Sen. Elgie Sims, Jr., and Travel Noire with questions. No one responded at the time of print.  

This story first appeared in the Chicago News Weekly newspaper and has been edited and photos added.