Grundy Reporter

Grundy County State's Attorney Russ Baker said a ruling noting the SAFE-T Act’s unconstitutionality will allow for more voices to shape the future of the criminal justice system in the state. 

Kankakee County Chief Judge Thomas W. Cunnington of the 21st Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois was responsible for the ruling.

“Part of the push, I think, from a state's attorney role in his comments on this lawsuit was that the citizenry wasn't allowed to weigh in on this,” Baker said on WCJS News. “That should have been done by a ballot or a vote and gotten their true input on this. This was kind of rammed through in a late-night session and we all just were given it. And there wasn't really a fair debate on it from both sides. And hopefully, this opens up that conversation for both sides. Also, law enforcement, the victim-rights advocates who have got short-sheeted, I think, in this legislation can now have a true voice and weigh in on it and we can come to a compromise.

“No one's saying that the cash bond system isn't flawed, but to the way they decimated it and legislated it, it was one-sided. And now I think it's an opportunity to strike somewhat of a compromise and something a little bit more digestible and fair to all people involved.” 

The move comes days after Cunnington released his ruling.

“The administration of the justice system is an inherent power of the courts upon which the legislature may not infringe and the setting of bail falls within that administrative power, the appropriateness of bail rests with the authority of the court and may not be determined by legislative fiat,” the judge said in his decision.

Many believed that the ruling was a forgone conclusion. Among them was criminal law professor Richard Kling who, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, said that “the arguments raised all had merit, they weren’t frivolous.” 

The SAFE-T Act will still take effect on Jan. 1 in the 37 counties not included in the lawsuit. In those counties, thousands of inmates who await trial on serious crimes would be released. But after Cunnington's ruling, the 65 counties involved in the lawsuit will not be subject to those provisions of the SAFE-T Act.

The Act underwent changes after a campaign communications blitz revealed several glaring errors in the law. No Republicans voted for the bill or the subsequent changes. When the SAFE-T Act is implemented in the surviving counties, those charged with the most heinous crimes—such as robbery, kidnapping, arson, second-degree murder, intimidation, aggravated battery, aggravated DUI, aggravated flight, drug-related homicide, and threatening a public official—will be freed; as the Will County Gazette previously reported.