| When Shannon Ross was arrested on a weapons charge in 2019 in Chicago, he couldn’t afford to pay the $75,000 bail set by a judge. So he had to spend months in jail, which caused him to lose his car, job and precious time with his children.
Zooming out from Ross’ situation, 1 in 30 people in jail report being sexually assaulted. People jailed while awaiting their trial are also six times more likely to die by suicide than people who have been convicted and sentenced, and people in jail tend to have more health concerns than the rest of the population. These statistics and more led to Illinois becoming the first state to abolish cash bail on Monday.
Many people in law enforcement say that cash bail helps ensure defendants show up to their court hearings. But I spoke to Jeremy Cherson at The Bail Project, which is an organization that pays for people’s bonds, and he told me that of the roughly 30,000 people The Bail Project has helped, about 91% of the time, they show up for their court hearings.
Read more about Illinois abolishing cash bail and my conversation with Cherson, including why getting rid of cash bail ends up being cost-effective for the state and for people awaiting trial. |
