Prairie State Wire

Gubernatorial candidate Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) said a recent state  Supreme Court decision is an example of what is wrong with the SAFE-T Act.

"This ruling exemplifies why the SAFE-T Act is so dangerous, if the SAFE-T Act can be applied to reduce the sentence for crimes committed six years ago based and originally tried under 35-year-old laws," Bailey said. "This is not a circuit court decision from a lone judge that will likely get overturned at the appellate court level. This is an Illinois Supreme Court ruling. This is just the beginning of how the far left is going to use the SAFE-T Act to completely transform our criminal justice system to advance their far-left, soft-on-crime ideology"

The Supreme Court ruling was a decision on The People of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. Denzal Stewart, Appellee.

The Illinois Supreme Court applied the SAFE-T Act retroactively to apply to cases already decided in the court system. 

“Aside from being bizarre as a matter of statutory interpretation, a Friday opinion rendered by the Illinois Supreme Court provides a frightening warning about how courts may misapply the new SAFE-T Act," Mark Glennon wrote for Wirepoints. " The high court applied the Act’s new, more lenient sentencing standards that only became law last year to resolve a five-year old criminal sentencing matter for a crime committed six years ago based on a law that’s 35-years old. In effect, the court applied the SAFE-T Act retroactively.” 

The ruling came along party lines with Democratic Justices Anne M. Burke, Mary Jane Theis, P. Scott Neville, and Robert L. Carter ruling in favor of interpreting the law. The issue came to a head when an offender suggested his juvenile record should not be considered during sentencing — something mandated when the SAFE-T Act takes full effect Jan. 1.

Opponents of the SAFE-T Act claim its elimination of cash bail – effective Jan. 1, 2023 – will set loose suspects awaiting trial on charges of robbery, kidnapping, arson, second-degree murder, intimidation, aggravated battery, aggravated DUI, aggravated flight, drug-related homicide, and threatening a public official.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker called these allegations "misinformation."

"Misinformation spreads like wildfire, and there are ugly lies making the rounds about the SAFE-T Act," Pritzker posted on Facebook. "This law does not mandate the release of defendants or create 'non-detainable offenses.' Defendants are eligible for pre-trial release based on their risk, not their bank accounts."

According to the Madison-St. Clair Record, of the 102 state's attorneys, 100 are in favor of amending or repealing the SAFE-T Act. Eric Rinehart from Lake County and Kim Foxx from Cook County are the remaining state's attorneys who support the legislation.