So apparently Democrats in Illinois looked at the state's already-elevated homicide rate and spiraling urban crime problems and said, "Yeah, you know what, this is good, we want more of this:"
Illinois has become the first state in the nation to eliminate cash bail, clearing the way for potentially dangerous criminals to be set free on the streets.
Democratic Gov. J.B Pritzker celebrated the step Tuesday, but critics reacted with incredulity.
"Incredulity" is a good first step. "Getting out of Illinois" is probably the next appropriate thing to do.
In the wake of the news, Pritzker claimed that "pre-trial detainment [will now be] determined by the danger an individual poses to the community instead of by their ability to pay their way out of jail." Which, you know, call me skeptical but I don't see that happening. I think this actually has to do with releasing more black men from prison to make white liberals feel better.
Judges and prosecutors will begin permitting en masse the release of dangerous, violent criminals onto the streets. (I mean even more so than they're doing now.)
Under the law, judges cannot set any bail, but they can order defendants charged with certain serious crimes to be jailed until trial if prosecutors can show they either pose a danger to the public or are likely to flee the state.
Judges can also set conditions, such as house arrest, for defendants.
Ah yes, because criminals listen to polite suggestions not to leave the house.
Meanwhile, Chicago has had 319 homicides in 2023 alone. Dozens of people get shot every single weekend.
Criminals let out on bail regularly continue committing crime (shocker!):
Elsewhere where bail "reform" is a policy, violent criminals regularly take lives of people that could have been spared if they were in prison:
The upshot may very well be that enough people leave Illinois for safer states that eventually the criminals simply have nobody left to victimize. Except maybe other criminals.
This is the Democratic playbook: Less law, more crime, less safety, more chaos — in Illinois and wherever else they can do it.
