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The Illinois chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today applauded Illinois Governor JB Pritzker for signing House Bill 3653, legislation to increase police accountability and transparency, into law.
“With this legislation our leaders are taking a critical step toward acknowledging, addressing, and acting on the systemic racism and underinvestment that has led to disproportionate rates of police and gun violence in our most vulnerable communities. We applaud our lawmakers and the governor for including funding for victims of gun violence and survivor families for much needed services,” said Maria Pike, a volunteer with Illinois Moms Demand Action and a Senior Survivor Fellow with the Everytown Survivor Network. “From the bottom of our hearts, we thank the many longtime advocates who have been tirelessly fighting for the change our communities deserve for decades.”
Interesting, as this bill also ends having to fork up cash for bail, which means people arrested for crimes involving firearms (and would have the chance to bail out) can basically get arrested, processed and then released.
Illinois is set to become the first state to eliminate cash bail.
The state’s Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday signed into law a sweeping overhaul of policing and criminal justice that eliminates the system starting in January 2023.
Other states, including New York and New Jersey have already limited the use of cash bail
Many in law enforcement say that getting rid of bail allows dangerous people to be set free while awaiting trial.
So, when freshly arrested and released criminals start committing more crimes and also going after those that either called the cops on them (DV situations, for example) or turned them, we can now point directly to Moms Demand Action for supporting this bill. It’s been tried recently in other states and, well, not having the results they hoped for. Further, Illinois lawmakers seem to love ignoring real problems and instead blame video games and guns.
We understand that some crimes (such as petty non-violent offenses) should really not have ludicrous bail amounts (or maybe even any at all), but to completely get rid of bail and have a “you’re arrested and booked. Pretty please show up to court. We trust you” plan in place, not gonna work out.