Read: “Protecting Pretrial Freedom: Two Years of Bond Reform in Cook County”

On September 18, 2017, General Order 18.8A, a Cook County court rule designed to limit the use of money bond, went into effect in felony cases. The Order instructs judges to set money bonds only as a last resort and only in amounts that people can afford to pay and was issued by Cook County’s Chief Judge in response to a civil rights lawsuit challenging the county’s unconstitutional, wealth-based system of detention. Since the Order’s implementation, the number of people incarcerated in Cook County Jail on any given day has been reduced by more than 1,500. This drop has brought the number of people incarcerated pretrial down to the lowest levels Cook County has seen in more than 30 years. Today, advocates with the Coalition to End Money Bond are releasing Protecting Pretrial Freedom: Two Years of Bond Reform in Cook County, which documents the success of the bond reform in Cook County and highlights areas in which there is still need for improvement.

In the last two years, Cook County has taken important steps towards reforming our pretrial justice system. Thanks to the General Order won by advocates, thousands of people that would have previously been incarcerated for months or even years while presumed innocent were able to await trial from a place of freedom. This means thousands of people whose lives previously would have been destroyed by pretrial incarceration were able to keep their jobs and homes, stay in school, and support their families while they fought their cases—a right that should be guaranteed to everyone regardless of access to wealth.

Protecting Pretrial Freedom documents how these reforms have taken place without endangering public safety. As the number of people incarcerated in Cook County Jail has dropped precipitously in the last two years, so too has the number of shootings and violent crimes in Chicago. Between January and June 2018, while General Order 18.8A was in effect, violent crime in Chicago declined by almost 8% when compared to the same period in 2017. Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Superintendent Eddie Johnson have repeatedly claimed that bond reform is endangering our city. This report and the many before it make clear that that could not be further from the truth. Of the 30,466 people who were released pretrial between October 2017 and March 2019, just about one half of one percent (0.7%), were subsequently arrested and accused of committing a new violent offense.

General Order 18.8A has made clear that we can reform our pretrial justice system and greatly reduce the number of people incarcerated pretrial without endangering community safety. We cannot give into fearmongering and roll back these important reform efforts that have changed the lives of thousands of Cook County residents and helped Cook County lead the way in pretrial justice reform in the face of the mass incarceration crisis.

While Cook County has made important strides towards reforming our pretrial justice system, more progress is needed. Today, two years after General Order 18.8A went into effect, approximately 2,000 people remain incarcerated in Cook County Jail only because they can’t afford to pay a money bond. Each one of those unaffordable money bonds is a policy failure and a constitutional violation. Protecting Pretrial Freedom: Two Years of Bond Reform in Cook County concludes with recommendations on steps the county and state can take to further improve our pretrial justice system.