The tragic shooting of Chicago Police Officer John Bartholomew, which resulted in his death, and the injury sustained by his partner have ignited a push for reforms to the Illinois Safe-T Act.
The suspect in the shooting, Alphanso Talley, has a criminal history that includes seven felony convictions. He was under electronic monitoring and failed to appear in court back in March on charges related to carjacking and armed robbery.
The Safe-T Act, which overhauled pretrial detention procedures throughout Illinois, notably abolished the cash bail system.
Among those advocating for amendments to the Safe-T Act is Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran, representing Downers Grove.
“The Safe-T Act was intended to prevent individuals facing non-violent charges from languishing in jail simply due to their inability to pay a $100 or $200 bail. That aspect of the Safe-T Act is effective. However, the issue lies within its handling of violent offenders with a consistent pattern of violent behavior; that’s where it falls short,” Curran explained.
Curran believes there is potential to enhance the current legislation, particularly concerning suspects who are out on pretrial release with ankle monitors and commit further offenses.
“So, you’re talking a small subset of those in the criminal justice system. But these are the most dangerous individuals in the criminal justice system and pose the greatest risk to public safety,” he said.
Curran says right now, it’s the end of the legislative session, but there are discussions about his proposal.
Illinois House Republican Leader Tony McCombie of Savanna has filed identical legislation.
Curran hopes by the end of May, the legislature will pass their proposed change.
Speaking about the Safe-T Act and the shooting of Officer Bartholomew, Governor JB Pritzker said, “Well, what played a role here was that the judge who had the ability to keep the person in jail, didn’t.”
Sharone R. Mitchell Junior is the Cook County Public Defender. He says the Safe-T Act has impacted the people his office represents.
“I think what it’s done is create a better hearing process for when this important decision needs to be made,” Mitchell said. “Before you had these hearings that would last a minute. And the final determination would be how much money a person had. The changes to the Safe-T Act have made these hearings far longer. Far more expansive. Far more informative. And it’s given judges more information to make this really important decision.”
He says the Safe-T Act is “far better than the status quo.”
Mitchell says the decisions that judges make won’t always be perfect.
As for the proposal by State Senator Curran he said: “The problem with that proposal is that it’s completely unconstitutional. There has to be a hearing to determine whether a person is going to get their rights taken away. What we’re talking about is a person accused of an offense. And accountability happens when there’s a trial. When there’s evidence presented. And a judge or jury makes a decision or a person pleads guilty.”
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