Liberal politicians at Chicago who fought for defunding police and a soft-on-crime approach are facing mounting criticism as carjackings, murders, and robberies are skyrocketing in the city. Yet the state’s latest response to spiking crime rates is to ban cash bail.

Illinois’s SAFE-T Act went into effect September 18 after the state’s supreme court ruled the law was constitutional. That followed months of disputes over a provision called the “Pre-Trial Fairness Act,” which limits cases where an arrested person can be detained before trial.

The end of cash bail has the potential to let violent offenders back on the streets — and raises questions about whether rural and suburban prosecutors have the resources needed to comply with the new rules.

Now, a prosecutor has the burden to prove that a defendant poses a threat to the community and should be detained before trial — otherwise, the arrested individual will be given a summons to appear in court at a later date.

While some cities have similar policies, including Los Angeles, where a zero-bail policy went into effect Sunday, Illinois is the first state to ban cash bail. Advocates for the state’s new policy say cash bail should be eliminated because it allows people to pay their way out, discriminating against the poor and minority groups. 

Others warn the policy is already leading to the release of dangerous criminals at Chicago. When asked by the Sun if crime has escalated in the weeks since the cash bail ban, representatives of the Chicago Police Department declined to comment.

This first-of-its-kind statewide ban could place further strain on rural and suburban communities whose prosecutors also are forced to comply with the bail reform. Not enough time has passed to know the outcome of the cash bail ban yet, but it could lead to additional hassle and work for rural communities, the Illinois Policy Institute director of policy research, Joe Tabor, tells The New York Sun.

“Rural communities have fewer resources to handle the additional burdens that will be put on the justice system — prosecutors are now required to petition the court to deny pre-trial release, and judges must make a written finding summarizing the reasons for denying pre-trial release,” Mr. Tabor tells the Sun. 

The court, prosecutors, and public defenders will have to prioritize high-risk cases, but “it also means the defendants who are detained will not be able to get out of jail simply by posting bond,” Mr. Tabor adds. 

The future of cash bail bans in other states could depend on the outcomes of this one as more time passes. “I think that other states considering abolition of cash bail are watching Illinois to see how it does here,” Mr. Tabor says.

Illinois’s new law is already sending criminals who would otherwise be detained back on the streets, a Washington Free Beacon report found. One man bit a police officer, one broke into a high-end store, and a “woman was released from custody after she appeared to attack four Chicago police officers — the woman’s release came on the first day the state’s bail reform law went into effect,” the report details. 

Prairie State politicians have faced blowback for Chicago’s crime, especially since the pandemic. Car thefts at Chicago have jumped by 139 percent in three years, with 2023’s numbers expected to be even higher. Recent video footage of a carjacking shows a man trapped by two cars, held at gunpoint, thrown on the ground, tied up, and forced to watch as the thieves drive off with his vehicle.

In another incident, a man was shot by an unknown assailant in a restaurant parking lot Sunday morning. He was one of 37 persons that police say were shot over the weekend in the city.

As crime in the city spirals, Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, said that a person’s ability to pay should not “dictate their presumption of innocence in the court system.”

“Cash bail does not make communities safer, and it never has; it has simply exacerbated existing inequities and disparities in the criminal legal system,” Mr. Johnson says. “Pretrial detention, as a result of the inability to pay bail,” further hurts those who have been affected by “mass incarceration, and the destabilization of households and families.”