Opponents to ending money bond have long said that if people released pretrial don’t have money on the line, they’ll have no reason to return to court. A new report on the financial impact of ending money bond released this month by the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts displays just how false this narrative is. The report found that 95 of Illinois’ 102 county court systems collected over $700 million in bond payments over the last five years and returned just 20% of the money paid at the conclusions of people’s criminal cases. An astounding 70% of bond money paid to county clerks was used to to satisfy court fees, and the remaining 10% was used to satisfy fines and restitution payments.

This report reinforces what communities and advocates have long known: the myth of money bond’s effectiveness is nothing more than a fantasy used to justify pretrial punishment. People were not coming to court to get bond money back because they were not getting bond money back even if they went to every court date. Money bonds are effectively ransoms required to purchase the freedom of our friends and neighbors, and payment is made with the assumption that the money will not be returned. The vast majority of people return to court not to retrieve bond money but to remain free—the risk of a warrant, being jailed, or having a negative case outcome provides more than enough motivation to return to court. We also know that money bond isn’t necessary because it’s been tested. Following a dramatic reduction in use of money bond in Cook County, studies have found there was no significant increase in the number of people who missed their court dates. Community bail funds across the country have made similar findings: a majority of people return to court even when their bail is paid by an organization instead of by themselves or a loved one. Having money at risk is not an effective motivator for court appearance, and the harm caused by requiring families to buy their loved ones’ freedom far outweighs the imagined benefits.

Wealth-based pretrial incarceration has forced members of our most marginalized communities to pool money together, forgo paying utilities or rent, and—in some cases—even sell their homes or vehicles to purchase their loved ones’ freedom. This extraction of wealth destabilizes countless people’s lives and decreases the safety of our communities. Thankfully, this unethical practice has an end date. In 2023, the Pretrial Fairness Act will take full effect and abolish the use of money bond in Illinois. This law is a positive change for our communities because the courts should never have been funded on the backs of vulnerable Illinoisians.