Advocates reflect on one year since elimination of cash bond

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Next week marks one year since Illinois ended the cash bond system for criminal court cases statewide. Advocates and justice officials say the new system is working just the way it was meant to.

One year in the Pretrial Fairness Act has not sparked the rise in crime that some critics like Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow predicted.

Cook County State's attorney Kim Foxx applauds the numbers that show the end of cash bond successful, despite a brutal campaign opposing it.

“The purge, the notion of the purge that people – particularly again, if we're just looking at the faces that they were saying were coming for you, where Black men – were going to come and raid your homes and all hell was going to break loose. It was rooted in racism,” Foxx said.

Retired Kane County Chief Judge Clint Hull said the parties worked through their differences.

“We didn't all sit up here and agree, even judges or prosecutors, rural, central, urban. We all had different issues but what we did do is work together to try to figure out how to make this work.”

Advocates say they're not surprised it's working.

Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!
Sign up and follow WBBM Newsradio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok