Why Bail Reform is Safe and Effective: The Case of Cook County

Abstract

Cook County’s bail reform has resulted in increased use of non-financial pretrial release options (I Bonds) and declines in the monetary cost of bail set for detained felony defendants. These two impacts have served to reduce the number of defendants admitted to the Cook County jail and the duration of their incarceration. Furthermore, the number of people sentenced to state prison has been significantly reduced. As a result, the size of both the Cook County pretrial population and the Illinois state prison population has been significantly reduced. These impacts have occurred as the number of total crimes and violent crimes in Cook County have continued to decline. Claims by critics that crime has increased as a result of the bail reform effort have not been properly tested, are not credible and should be ignored.