JERSEY: County Board backs State’s Attorney in SAFE-T suit
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By Carissa Sitki
At their Tuesday evening meeting, the Jersey County Board approved a resolution that was drafted in support of the lawsuit filed by Jersey County State’s Attorney Ben Goetten in regards to the Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity Today Act (Public Act 101-0652), also referred to as the “SAFE-T Act.”
The SAFE-T Act was passed on Jan. 13, 2021 and is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2023. It eliminates cash bail and leaves only a limited number of offenses for which a person arrested may be held in custody prior to their trial.
State’s Attorneys in counties throughout Central and Southern Illinois have filed similar suits against the State of Illinois, challenging the constitutionality of the SAFE-T Act, including the counties of Greene and Scott. Additionally, Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine (R) and Sheriff John Lakin (D) announced last week that they had filed a bipartisan lawsuit against the SAFE-T Act.
Jersey County Board Chairman Don Little said that when the SAFE-T Act was passed, there were “issues regarding the amount of readings the act had received,” and that there “are other issues regarding the fullness in which hearings were held and the manner in which this thing was put together.”
In the resolution approved on Tuesday, the board outlines their concerns with the SAFE-T Act, siding with Goetten.
“The SAFE-T Act eliminates cash bail and strips the judiciary of their ability to ‘balance the rights of the accused to be free on bail against the rights of the public to receive reasonable, protective consideration by the courts,’” reads a portion of the resolution approved by the board. “The SAFE-T Act places entire categories of crimes, such as Aggravated Battery, Robbery, Burglary, Hate Crimes, Aggravated DUI’s, Reckless Homicide, Armed Habitual Criminal, Drug Induced Homicide, and all drug offenses including Delivery and Trafficking of Fentanyl, ineligible for pretrial detention despite the severity of the crime or the defendant’s risk to a specific citizen or the community in general.”
The resolution continues, stating that the SAFE-T Act creates an “unreasonable higher legal standard for pretrial detention in forcible felonies such as murder and armed robbery.”
The resolution concludes that the law, how it has been written, puts citizens at risk by disallowing the detention of dangerous criminals. Additionally, they further detail their support of Goetten and explain what the lawsuit asks of the State.
“WHEREAS, the Jersey County Board believes that this law, as currently constituted, puts the public in a degree of risk by prohibiting detention of dangerous criminals and will potentially discourage victim cooperation with law enforcement due to fear of retaliation by offenders immediately released back into society,” reads the resolution. “NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the County Board of the County of Jersey, Illinois supports the actions of the Jersey County State’s Attorney in filing a lawsuit against the State of Illinois regarding the Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity Today Act (Public Act 101-0652) and requests that all scheduled deadlines required by Public Act 101-0652 be suspended, or the SAFE-T Act be repealed in the upcoming ‘Veto’ or ‘Lame Duck’ sessions of the Illinois General Assembly, and that specific criminal justice reforms be adopted with the crime victim and effective law enforcement practices in the forefront of the legislation.”
Little stated that while it’s possible that criminal justice reform is necessary, the SAFE-T Act was not approached correctly.
“There may indeed be some need for reform in the criminal justice system, but there was not much of a hearing in which some of the shareholders in the criminal justice system—law enforcement, officers, victim advisors— got much say in the constitutionality of this act,” said Little.
Little added that the resolution will be mailed to Governor JB Pritzker, the House, the State Senate, and Attorney General, since they were all parties who were named in the legislation.
