One year ago, Illinois implemented the Pretrial Fairness Act and became the first state in the country to completely end the use of money bond. It is still early, but overall, stakeholders across Illinois have reported smooth and successful implementation. More information about the first year of implementation is below.

Hearings are more robust—and tied to safety instead of wealth.

• Prior to the implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act, detention hearings were brief—4 minutes on average—and judges primarily chose dollar amounts with little attention to other conditions of release or outright detention. Now, hearings are more robust. Researchers at Loyola University found the length of detention hearings increased after implementation to a median length of 10–30 minutes.

• Accused people are represented by an attorney who can present evidence about their client’s circumstances for the judge’s consideration. Courts now make individualized inquiries into an accused person’s risk to a specific person or their community and their risk of flight while awaiting trial.

The number of people incarcerated in county jails is down, people are succeeding, and crime rates are down.

• The number of people incarcerated pretrial has decreased by 14% in Cook County, 14% in other urban counties, and 25% in rural counties.
• Failure to appear rates dropped from 17% to 15% across the state.
• In Cook County, 88% of people have not been issued a warrant for a failure to appear while on pretrial release and less than 5% of people were rearrested on charges related to violence.
• Data from the Office of Statewide Pretrial Services shows that 95% of people under their supervision in 78 counties have returned to court. 
• Statewide violent and property crime rates have dropped by 12% since the law took effect.
• In Chicago, murders are down 8.6% from 2023, continuing a three-year downward trend. Robberies, carjackings, and sexual assaults are also down from 2023.

Millions of dollars are staying in vulnerable communities.

• For decades, money bond extracted millions of dollars from marginalized communities, disproportionately impacting Black and Latinx families and people living in poverty. 
• From 2016 to 2020, Illinoisians paid anywhere from $121 million to more than $154 million dollars per year in money bonds. That money will now remain with family members across the state to contribute to the overall well-being and economic security of entire communities.