Illinois Supreme Court puts SAFE-T Act on hold, leaving cash bail in effect

In a late afternoon ruling Saturday, the Illinois Supreme Court put the SAFE-T Act on hold for the entire state just hours before it was set to go into effect.

It was supposed to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1 and eliminate cash bail for some crimes.

The state Supreme Court found the measure would unfairly take discretion on bail out of the hands of judges.

"Tomorrow
was supposed to be absolute chaos at 26th and California with this new
law taking effect, and I think the Illinois Supreme Court realized that
in making this rather late decision today to stop that from happening
tomorrow," said CBS 2 legal analyst Irv Miller. "So I think they were
sitting around today thinking, 'How are we going to remedy this
catastrophe?' And I'm going to use the word catastrophe if this went
ahead."

Critics of the current bail system say it unfairly punishes the poor.