No-Cash Bail Is Underway

No-cash bail in Cook County has begun. 

Under the new system, which began on Monday, September 18, police must issue citations for suspects accused of low-level misdemeanors, who will be given a court date and released. For more serious crimes, where a suspect is arrested and remains in police custody, a decision about pre-trial release will go to the court. Conditions for release are set in an initial hearing, after which the prosecutor can request a defendant remain in jail. 

The state, the defense and the court say they are ready for this transformation of the criminal justice system, according to Jan Goldberg, chair of the Cook County League’s Criminal Justice Interest Group, which has long advocated for no-cash bail.

“We are excited to be the first state in the union to eliminate monetary bail,” Jan said. “We are happy to put an end to a system that let out serious offenders with access to bond funds but incarcerated low-level offenders with no such access. Other states will be watching us. We hope they enact similar plans.”

The League of Women Voters of Chicago and Cook County have been involved in the criminal justice reform effort in other ways. They helped register thousands of detainees in voter registration drives at the Cook County jail and aided in conducting actual voting inside the jail. In 2019, Governor Pritzker signed into law a measure that allowed Cook County to set up polling places in its detention facilities. In 2021, he signed legislation to expand the law to other Illinois counties. 

For more information about the City of Chicago Government, see LWV Chicago’s website. To get involved in LWV Chicago’s City Government Committee, email league@lwvchicago.org.