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Illinois Safe T Act Effects On Defendant Court Appearance

Creator

T. J. Garland

Preview

Creation Date

Fall 2025

Description

On September 18, 2023, the Safety, Accountability, Fairness, Equity-Today Act (Safe-T Act) went into effect, and abolished the cash bail system for all crimes across the state of Illinois. This drastic change to the legal system has raised many questions, especially with regard to the likelihood of an individual appearing in court. One of the common hypothesis and arguments for cash bail is that bail is meant to be a way in which to motivate those released from detainment to appear in court since they are at risk of losing monetary value as well as further detainment. Without bail, those released from detention will be more likely to not appear in court since they lose nothing and only put themselves at risk of further detention.