OPINION: The Pretrial Fairness Act, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, will keep people from being incarcerated while awaiting trial simply because they don’t have money for bail.
There is no such thing as a “purge law.”
Illinois’ Pretrial Fairness Act is being wrongly compared to The Purge—the movie franchise where all crimes, including murder, are allowed for a 12-hour period. But what the law actually does is end the cash bail system in the state to ensure that people are not being incarcerated simply because they’re poor.
Most people caught up in the criminal legal system live below the poverty line. The cash bail system, which was never about public safety and was designed to make sure people show up for trial, instead criminalizes poverty and aids mass incarceration—which is why today!
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