A southern Illinois lawmaker says the end of cash bail in the state will mean a more challenging world for the court system.
State Representative Patrick Windhorst of Metropolis says the elimination of cash bail in the SAFE-T Act will require additional resources for Illinois’ court system, which relied on that money to function.
“This will be made up either by the state putting in more money, which the state’s budget is not flush like it once was, or the local property taxpayer is going to have to pay more, which is also a bad idea because of the way our property taxes are in Illinois. So, it’s going to be a lot of problems to fix going forward.”
Windhorst says he also believes it will lead to increased recidivism and reduced public safety.
He says other jurisdictions have experimented with extreme reforms of cash bail and have experienced disastrous repercussions.
