Pretrial Success Act will help continue progress in Illinois

Maurice West
| Specially for the Rockford Register Star

Last month, the Illinois State Legislature reaffirmed its commitment to pretrial justice by passing the Pretrial Success Act as part of the state budget.

The program will dramatically increase access to voluntary community-based services for people caught in the criminal justice system. This passage comes nine months after Illinois implemented the Pretrial Fairness Act, making us the first state in the country to abolish cash bail.

The Pretrial Success Act provides federal funding to community organizations to provide essential services such as mental health and substance abuse treatment. It also provides funding for child care and transportation to help people get to court dates.

In January 2025, the state will pilot the program in five communities with an initial investment of $3.5 million. The program will be fully implemented across the state by July 2025. By improving access to critical services, we can increase the chances that people will get the help they need and successfully transition out of the criminal justice system.

The reforms Illinois has made to its pretrial system are historic not only for our state, but for the entire nation. No other state has shown such determination in reforming pretrial practices. With the Justice in Court and Win in Court laws, we have shown the country that our commitment to justice in court is not a fleeting fad, but a deeply rooted value.

Not only will we fight to end policies that have harmed communities for generations, but we are also committed to long-term justice and community safety.

Changing a broken system isn't enough to change outdated laws, it's also about replacing them with solutions that are proven to help the most vulnerable members of our community and improve community safety.

Before Illinois abolished cash bail, opponents tried to scare us by claiming that the Pretrial Fairness Act would lead to an unprecedented crime wave. They were wrong.

We have seen a smooth and successful implementation of the law across the state. Thanks to the Pretrial Fairness Act, people are no longer incarcerated simply because they do not have the means to buy their freedom.

People can keep their jobs, their homes, and their positive family and social contacts while they await trial in the community. The Pretrial Fairness Act was an important first step in ensuring that our legal system puts safety and justice first—not access to money.

But abolishing a wealth-based prison system does nothing to stop people from being arrested. And there is no denying that many people who come into contact with the criminal justice system need help. It is often circumstances, not a desire to commit a crime, that lead people into the system in the first place.

Many people trapped in our justice system struggle with issues such as unemployment, homelessness, untreated substance abuse disorders and mental health issues. They are often trauma survivors themselves who have never received adequate treatment or even had access to it.

It should not be difficult to see that the woman accused of stealing baby formula is too poor to afford basic necessities and needs a job, housing, and child care, or that the Marine veteran repeatedly arrested for possession of small amounts of drugs would likely benefit from mental health care and treatment for his substance use disorder.

With the passage of the Pretrial Success Act, lawmakers have taken the next important step in our fight for justice before trials. Investments like these are critical to supporting communities and preventing crime. If we care as much about public safety as we claim, we must work to prevent our most vulnerable community members from becoming stuck in the quicksand of the criminal justice system.

We can only achieve this by tackling the root causes of crime and providing targeted support that meets people's needs. The Pretrial Success Act will provide communities with the tools they need to do this.

Only by investing in community-based resources can we get people the help they need. Our experience and growing understanding of public health have taught us that criminalizing mental illness and drug addiction is not effective.

Care and treatment are best accessed as voluntary resources in communities, not in cages, and treatment plans should be developed by individuals and their doctors, not courts. Meaningful mental health care cannot take place in a prison cell.

We have underinvested in and drained resources from communities for too long. Thanks to the elimination of bonding, communities that have suffered disproportionately under an overly punitive system are now saving millions of dollars.

But we must continue to invest in them, give them the tools they need to overcome institutional harms, and ensure that the criminal justice system no longer functions like a revolving door.

Our historic over-reliance on incarceration has not made us safer. I'm proud that Illinois is investing in solutions that work.

Maurice West is the state representative for Illinois' 67th district, which includes parts of Rockford, Loves Park and Cherry Valley.

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