Welcome to President Donald Trump’s America, especially when it comes to his views on crime. He just signed new executive orders on August 25 that aim to strip federal funding from cities and states that let criminal suspects go free without posting bond. Trump argued that requiring cash bail is about keeping people safe, saying it prevents defendants from committing new crimes before trial. “They kill people and they get out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re ending it.”
Illinois has taken the opposite route, becoming the first state to fully abolish cash bail under the Pretrial Fairness Act. Signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker in 2022 and implemented the following year, the law replaced money bail with a system that requires prosecutors to prove in court why a person accused of serious crimes should be held before trial. Those who are not considered a flight risk or a threat to public safety are released on the promise to return for their hearings.
Pritzker pushed back against Trump’s new orders, saying during an August 26 press conference that it was “clear” the president hadn’t looked into the real effects of Illinois’ reforms. “They need to understand better why it’s working and why punishing states, well the only state that has done it, makes no sense,” Pritzker said. “In fact it’s working and probably should happen in other states as well.”
Fears that eliminating cash bail would spark a wave of new crimes haven’t materialized, according to researchers. “There’s always this concern that bail reform will cause the sky to fall but that definitely has not happened in Illinois,” said University of Chicago professor Alison Siegler. “All the evidence I’ve seen points to positive outcomes since Illinois eliminated cash bail. It’s really clear from the data that things have gotten better, not worse.”
A study from Loyola University Chicago found that the percentage of defendants skipping court dates has actually dropped slightly, from 25 percent to 23 percent, since the law took effect. The same research also showed that more people charged with violent offenses are being held pretrial now than before the reform. “Before bail reform, about 60% of defendants charged with serious crimes were released before trial after posting bond. Now, only about 50% of defendants charged with serious crimes are released before trial,” explained Loyola researcher Don Stemen.