Dupage Policy Journal

State Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) is pushing for the repeal of the SAFE-T Act as a first step in curbing the city’s rising crime problem.

“Chicago reported more than 1,800 carjackings last year,” Grant said in a post to Facebook. “That’s 3x more carjackings than New York City, despite having a population roughly 1/3 the size. Let’s repeal the SAFE-T Act and restore public safety in Illinois.”

Among other changes, the Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act changed a rule that allowed prosecutors to charge people with murder when their accomplices were killed by a third party while committing a forcible felony; set forth new guidelines for dealing with abusive officers; mandated body cameras for all cops across the state and curtailed when police can use deadly force.

The Pretrial Fairness Act part of the measure also mandates the end of the money bond system by 2023 and limits pretrial detention to people accused of specific felonies where the judge determines their release status.

Law enforcement groups and police unions across the state have joined Republican lawmakers in arguing the changes amount to an attack on officers and serve to make streets less safe.

In 2021, the number of reported murders in Chicago set a 20-year high, prompting some lawmakers to argue that is reason enough to curtail pretrial reforms. In the case of SAFE-T, state Sen. Steve McClure (R-Jacksonville) argued during the final debate on the bill that its supporters were “trying to do whatever (they) can to make sure that people charged with horrendous crimes can get out of jail without having to post bond.”

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Police Chief David Brown have both also regularly blamed pretrial release for the rise in gun violence across the city. According to WTTW, in January, the number of shootings and homicides dipped from the same time last year in Chicago, but the city is still off to one of its deadliest starts in the last 20 years with 148 shootings and 48 homicides. Data shows the city’s Vehicular Hijacking Task Force also made 142 carjacking-related arrests in January.