Illinois Fifth Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Craig DeArmond submitted an eye-opening review of bail reform that has turned heads across the nation. In his articulate plea titled “Bail Reform – Is there another side to the argument?” Judge DeArmond reviews each case that bail reform proponents have touted as successes to ending the cash bail system. Surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, all of the cases had cherry picked catch phrases that were often taken out of context. Absolutely zero of the eleven reviewed cases had decisions that stated that the cash bail system was unconstitutional, inherently biased or racially motivated. In fact, most of the decisions dealt with an issue that is already a requirement under the Bail Reform Act of 1966: bail review hearings. As discussed in the article, bail review hearings are required for all defendants held for 24 hours or more. Jurisdictions not abiding by this requirement are violating the law and that is the holding and correct decision that most of the cases have dealt with.
As Judge DeArmond points out, it only takes a little digging to see that there are hidden motives behind this push for bail reform. This push for bail reform has been going on unsuccessfully for decades. Many jurisdictions that have gone away from cash bail systems have seen an increase in failure to appears and have eventually reinstated bail systems that they worked so hard to remove. Too many times these proponents of bail reform are taking things out of context and using that to push an agenda that is not beneficial to defendants, courts or the public.
Undoubtedly, there are issues in our criminal justice system. Unfortunately, there are corrupt bail companies. This however does not equate to removing a bail system that has been in place for hundreds of years.