Loyola University researchers studying the Pretrial Fairness Act [PFA] say McLean County detains defendants awaiting trial at higher rates than most Illinois counties.
In a presentation this week to McLean County's Criminal Justice Coordinating Council [CJCC], Loyola researcher David Olson presented preliminary findings about the PFA’s impact on the state’s criminal justice system. The law took effect in 2023, making Illinois the first state to eliminate cash bail.
In lieu of judges ruling on the amount of money required for a defendant to be released from jail awaiting trial, prosecutors can now petition the court to detain those accused of certain crimes. Others are deemed “non-detainable,” and a defendant can be released to the community with certain restrictions.
According to Olson, McLean County detainees outnumber those who are released awaiting trial.
“In the rest of the state, it’s the opposite pattern,” he said during Thursday’s quarterly convening of key McLean County stakeholders representing courts and law enforcement.
“In the rest of the state, we see about two people on pretrial supervision for every one person that’s in jail pretrial,” he said.
102 different responses
Interpreting that datapoint, however, isn’t a straightforward process. There are 102 counties in Illinois.
“When people ask us, ‘How’s the Pretrial Fairness Act going?’ our somewhat sarcastic response is, tell me which county you’re interested in and then we can tell you,” Olson said.
Olson said counties are seeking and imposing detention at different rates. Jail populations dipped dramatically when the law took effect in 2023, but many have rebounded to near, or in some cases above, pre-PFA levels.
“It really is a reflection of a statewide policy being implemented 102 different says,” he said.
Olson said the greatest differences have been felt in rural counties.
“In the smaller, rural counties only about a third of defendants had an attorney representing them when cash bail was set,” he said. “Now they’re all being represented when conditions are being set or when detention is being sought.”
Counties have also increased the number of defendants enrolled in pretrial services through a statewide office monitoring conditional release. Prior to the PFA, Olson said several small counties had no mechanism for administering those services and have since joined the State Office of Pretrial Services.
Jail populations have also stayed lower in rural counties, according to Olson. McLean County State's Attorney Erika Reynolds asked if those differences reflect the types of crimes typically charged in those counties.
“Usually, the significant crimes that they’re seeing on a regular basis are your drug offenses,” she said. “Those historically were people that they would detain under the old system, and obviously those are non-detainable now. And so there is no option.”
Certain voices in law enforcement, including state Rep. Dennis Tipsword [who is also Woodford County’s chief deputy sheriff], have voiced concern that the court has no way to hold people in jail who are charged with retail theft, for example, and certain drug charges.
Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington asked Olson if the Loyola research team was also measuring the impact of pretrial release on victims, saying his department often hears from victims who are retraumatized by seeing their alleged perpetrators released to the community.
“This person didn’t go to jail; they weren’t in jail long. They’re back at revictimizing me,” he said. “Retail theft is certainly one of those challenging areas I think most jurisdictions are dealing with.”
McLean County to measure recidivism
Olson said measuring victim impact is challenging on a statewide level given ethical boundaries of research. But McLean County Judge Bill Yoder suggested that was something that could possibly done on a local level through the council's partnership with Illinois State University.
That's work typically done by Frank Beck, who was also present for Thursday's quarterly meeting. Beck said his team at ISU’s Stevenson Center will study recidivism in the county for the first time in a decade.
Previous data collection showed McLean County’s reoffending rate at around 30%.
“It’s time to update it, or to do it for the first time with respect to the specialty courts,” he said.
Those includes the county's Drug and Recovery courts, plus a circuitwide Veterans Treatment Court.
Beck said there are plans to additionally measure recidivism among emerging adults, an area of focus for the CJCC amid an uptick in arrests among 18- to 25-year-olds.
Beck said ISU has been conducting interviews with emerging adults to learn what factors have diverted them from continued involvement in the justice system once they get in.
“…be it mentorship, be it parents, be it peers, be it a job,” he said. “As we discovered last time we did this, for the young men we interviewed it was, they suddenly found themselves as a father.”
The team plans to also evaluate failure-to-appear rates among defendants scheduled for court hearings and behavioral health statistics related to the justice system.
As for statewide data on failures to appear, Olson said they haven’t budged significantly either direction since cashless bail became the law in Illinois.
Other business
- Council members were introduced to Kelley Amigoni as new director of Behavioral Health Coordination, an internal promotion which replaces Marita Landreth. Landreth left in February for a nursing job at Carle. With McLean County administrator Cassy Taylor, Amigoni provided an update on grants to community behavioral health organizations and the FUSE program.
- Director of Court Services Suzanne Montoya sought approval to release funding for two juvenile diversion programs.
- Family Treatment Court administrator Kaitlynn Stigall provided an update on the voluntary program for parents involved in juvenile neglect and abuse cases in McLean County involving a parent facing loss of custody, primarily because of substance abuse. Since launching in 2024, the program has had 23 participants, with 15 currently enrolled and two on a waiting list. Stigall said four participants have graduated from the program, leading to successful family reunification. Four were expelled after losing interest or not being amenable to treatment through Carle Health’s addictions recovery unit.
