Sheriff Mike Downey Illinois Sheriffs’ Association 2nd Vice President
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. How many victims will it take before Illinois’ leadership finally admits what the rest of us have known since day one? The SAFE-T Act is a disaster — not because reform is impossible, but because Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Democratic lawmakers who rammed this law through refused to listen to the people who actually understand how the criminal justice system works.
Prosecutors warned them. Judges warned them. Law-enforcement professionals warned them. Community safety advocates warned them.
And still, lawmakers pushed forward, congratulating themselves while dismissing real concerns as “fearmongering.”
Well, fear doesn’t look so theoretical anymore, does it?
Three trailer bills. Zero accountability.
In the aftermath of yet another horrific crime committed by someone who cycled repeatedly through the criminal justice system, this time setting a 26-year-old woman on fire and who has over 70 arrests, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has floated the idea of “tweaking” the SAFE-T Act.
“Sometimes bills get passed and everybody that votes for it knows that there needs to be a trailer bill or a tweak that needs to be made afterward,” Pritzker recently said. “I think everybody is open to listening to what changes might need to be made.” This statement begs the question…Governor Pritzker, where the hell have you been the last two years?
There have been three trailer bills passed by the democratic legislature and signed by Governor Pritzker before the elimination of cash bail took effect. They were political duct tape slapped over a law that was collapsing under its own weight. And now, when the consequences have become impossible to ignore, Gov. Pritzker emerges to say he’s “open to tweaks.”
Let’s be clear: when a law requires three separate trailer bills before it even takes effect, that’s not a sign of responsible policymaking — it’s a giant flashing red light that the original legislation was fundamentally broken. Each “fix” was celebrated as the one that finally got it right. Each time, critics were told to stop complaining.
And each time, the cracks only widened.
A system that lets dangerous offenders walk free isn’t suffering from a typo — it’s suffering from leadership malpractice.
The SAFE-T Act ripped away the very tool that protects the public: judicial discretion.
Criminal justice professionals begged lawmakers not to strip judges of the power to detain dangerous individuals. They weren’t asking for unlimited authority. They weren’t asking for political victory.
They were asking for what every stable, functioning legal system requires:
the ability to keep dangerous people behind bars when they pose a threat.
Instead, the SAFE-T Act created an absurd and reckless structure of “non-detainable offenses,” tying judges’ hands with rigid categories that make no sense in the real world.
If an offense is serious enough to arrest someone for, it is serious enough for a judge to consider detention. Period.
When lawmakers declared entire categories of crimes “non-detainable,” they effectively told judges: We don’t trust you.
So they trusted a rigid statute instead — one written in the middle of the night, during a lame-duck session, with minimal debate and even less expert input.
The result? Predictable tragedy.
Jails have turned into revolving door facilities while police arrest, and re-arrest, and re-arrest as responsibility, accountability, and the safety of our communities go out the window.
The safety act was supposed to limit Police contact with those responsible for committing crimes and instead has increased it tenfold. According to many who rammed this legislation through, the safety act was going to reduce the number of black and brown individuals being held in custody while in reality in the two years since the inception of the pre-trial fairness act those numbers have remained unchanged or in some cases have actually increased the jail population of black and brown individuals.
Restore full discretion. Eliminate “non-detainable offenses.” And reinstate cash bail.
Illinois doesn’t need more tinkering, clarifying, or re-wording. It needs a reset — a moral and practical acknowledgment that the SAFE-T Act’s detention scheme is beyond saving.
That means:
• Restoring 100% judicial discretion to detain anyone a judge believes is a threat to the community, a flight risk, or continues to be re-arrested over and over.
• Eliminating all “non-detainable” classifications, which undermine both safety and common sense.
• Reinstitute monetary bond. Money bail isn’t perfect, but it is a proven tool that has kept violent offenders off the streets for decades. It creates accountability. It creates consequences. And it works in conjunction with judicial discretion to protect communities.
• Acknowledging openly that the original bill was rushed, poorly designed, and disastrously implemented.
Judges are trained to evaluate risk. They are accountable to the law and the public. They see the full context: criminal history, the pattern of violence, the mental health concerns, the likelihood of reoffending. Legislators do not.
Why should a politician in Springfield have more say over pretrial detention than the judge who sits in front of the actual person?
Leadership means listening — and Illinois’ leaders didn’t.
The SAFE-T Act wasn’t doomed because reform is impossible. It was doomed because the people in charge refused to heed those who know the system best.
Now they want to “tweak” the law again while pretending the experts never warned them. They want credit for compassion while communities pay the price. They want to preserve a political talking point while ignoring the human consequences.
Enough.
Illinois deserves a justice system grounded in reality, not ideology. A system guided by professional judgment, not political calculation. A system that protects the innocent instead of gambling with their safety.
If Gov. Pritzker and the legislators who passed the SAFE-T Act can’t find humility to admit their mistakes, then Illinois needs leaders who will.
Sheriffs across the state are willing, able and ready to assist with your “tweaks”!