This year, the Coalition to End Money Bond is supporting two bills in the Illinois legislature. First, the Coalition is excited to support HB 2689, the Pretrial Data Act, sponsored by Representative Jehan Gordon-Booth from Peoria. The Pretrial Data Act will require counties in Illinois to collect and make public basic information about how they administer pretrial justice, including what kinds of bonds judges set in each jurisdiction and how many people are in jail awaiting trial because they cannot afford to pay a money bond. Currently, basic information such as this is not consistently available statewide. This bill will help interested community members, advocates, and elected officials evaluate the impact of recent and future reforms to the pretrial justice system.

The coalition is also pleased to once again support HB 3347, the Equal Justice for All Act, sponsored by Representative Justin Slaughter from Chicago. This bill would make the criminal justice system fairer and safer for all Illinois residents. People accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty, but our current wealth-based system, which requires most people to pay a money bond to get out of jail while awaiting trial, punishes residents of Illinois who are living in poverty. Communities harmed by the current wealth-based pretrial justice system are also disproportionately Black and Brown.

The Equal Justice for All Act abolishes the role of money in Illinois’s pretrial justice system and replaces it with a common-sense system that treats all Illinoisans fairly. People accused of lower-level charges will be released directly from police custody, reducing the chances that they lose their jobs and lessening the burden on the courts. For more serious charges, judges will maintain their existing discretion to deny someone release if they are believed to be a danger or a flight risk.

Instead of requiring people to pay money bonds they cannot afford, courts will be required to provide common-sense pretrial services, like court date reminders and transportation assistance for low-income people. The bill would also require that courts give notice to a person who has missed court before issuing a warrant for their arrest, allowing a 48 hour grace period in which someone can come in voluntarily. This will reduce unnecessary incarceration for people who simply forgot or were unable to attend court due to circumstances beyond their control. By replacing a broken wealth-based system with a common-sense, evidence-based approach to justice for those presumed innocent, HB 3347 will ensure that all Illinoisans, regardless of their income, are treated fairly by the courts.