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What the law did
- The SAFE-T Act (HB 3653, Public Act 101-0652) was signed on February 22, 2021. Source: Chicago Appleseed; Illinois Municipal League.
- The Illinois Supreme Court upheld the end of cash bail 5-2 on July 18, 2023 (Rowe v. Raoul), and cash bail ended statewide on September 18, 2023. Source: Rowe v. Raoul, 2023 IL 129248; WTTW.
- A judge can hold someone before trial only for listed offenses, and only if prosecutors show by clear and convincing evidence that the person is a real threat or likely to flee on purpose. Source: Chicago Appleseed, July 2026.
- Body cameras were required at every police department by January 1, 2025. Source: NPR Illinois.
What the numbers show
Jail populations fell, then came back.
In the first year, pretrial jail populations fell 14% in Cook and urban counties and 25% in rural counties. By July 2025 they had rebounded, and statewide about 17% more people were in pretrial jail or under supervision than before. Rural pretrial supervision grew 138%. Source: Loyola CCJ, first year; Loyola CCJ, Oct 2025. In McLean County, next door, the jail population dropped at first and did not stay down. Source: WGLT, Sept 2025.
Most released people come back to court. Not all.
In Cook County, 15% of people released got a warrant for missing court, 83% had no new charge, and 6% had a new violent or person charge while their case was open. The court says its dashboard is not a measure of whether the law works. Statewide, missed-court warrants were about the same after the law as before (12.5% vs. 13.6%). Source: Chief Judge dashboard; Loyola CCJ.
Critics count it differently.
The Illinois Policy Institute, a critic of the law, found Cook County release rates rose from 76.5% to 87% of cases, and new charges against released defendants rose from under 3,000 a year to about 4,500. Source: Illinois Policy Institute, 2024; Illinois Policy Institute, Sept 2026.
Crime is down, and the data doesn't say why.
Statewide reported crime fell 11% in the first half of 2024 compared with 2023 (Loyola, using State Police data). Chicago had 416 homicides in 2025, the fewest since 1965, and 2026 is running about even with 2025. No study credits the law for the drop or blames it for crime. Source: Loyola CCJ; FOX 32; Chicago Tribune, Sept 21, 2026.
Where the gaps are
- Electronic monitoring. The Cook County Sheriff stopped taking new monitoring cases on April 1, 2025, and the court took them over. In January 2026 the Chief Judge tightened the rules: an unapproved absence of 3 hours is now a major violation (it had been 48). As of May 8, 2026, 244 of 3,048 people on monitoring were AWOL. Source: Circuit Court of Cook County; NBC Chicago; Chicago Appleseed.
- Missing data. The law requires the state to publish electronic monitoring data. As of March 2025 it had not. Source: Better Government Association, Mar 26, 2025.
- Domestic violence and repeat offenders. Bills to change how the law handles domestic violence and monitoring violations were filed in 2026. None passed in the spring session, after the governor and the House Speaker said in January they were open to narrow changes. Source: NPR Illinois, Mar 19, 2026; STLPR / Capitol News Illinois, Jan 14, 2026; Capitol News Illinois, May 21, 2026.
Most of the published data is from Cook County. Downstate counties, including Logan, report far less, which is part of the data gap.
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