SAFE-T Act Amendment Summary
This summary was provided by The Safer Foundation.
We are pleased to present this summary of recently enacted amendments to Illinois’ Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act (SAFE-T Act). The Illinois General Assembly passed the amendments (HB1095) on December 1, 2022. Governor Pritzker approved the legislation and caused it to be enacted into law as Public Act 102-1104 on December 6, 2022. Like the SAFE-T Act itself, most of provisions of the amendment take effect on January 1, 2023.
Please note that this summary only briefly highlights certain provisions of the amendment, is not a comprehensive description of all of its provisions and should not be construed as providing legal advice. The full amendment can be accessed at:
https://ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/102/PDF/102-1104.pdf
Pre-Trial Release Hearings
An individual detained in pretrial custody on January 1, 2023 is entitled to a release hearing upon request of their attorney. Those hearings must be held pursuant to the following schedule:
• Lowest level offenses hearings must be within 7 days;
• Requests by defendants considered to be flight risks must be heard within 60 days;
• Hearings for defendants considered to be potential threats to safety must be within 90 days.
Defense attorneys must have in-person access to their clients prior to a detention hearing.
Pre-Trial Release Standards
The law now consistently applies the following standard for pre-trial detention hearing determinations on whether a defendant presents a safety threat:
“Real and present threat to the safety of any person or the community, based on the specific, articulable facts of the case.”
A court must make written findings to support a decision that less restrictive conditions would not mitigate the safety or willful flight risk that a defendant presents.
Pre-Trial Release Offenses
The list of offenses that are detainable for safety reasons now includes:
• All non-forcible, non-probationable felony charges;
• Forcible felonies, including, reckless homicide, involuntary manslaughter, residential burglary, child abduction, felony child endangerment and hate crimes, but excepting burglaries where no one is harmed and aggravated batteries where there is no great bodily harm.
The amendment also clarifies that a person can be arrested for trespassing when:
• The person poses a threat to the community or any person;
• Arrest is necessary because criminal activity persists after issuance of the citation; or
• The accused has an obvious medical or mental health issue that poses a risk to their safety.
Certain sex-work related offenses have been removed from the list.
Conditions of Release
Conditions of release must be the least restrictive necessary. Defendants who are detained because they cannot meet a release condition must receive a re-hearing within 48 hours to facilitate their release with different conditions.
Defendants must receive verbal and written notification of their pretrial release conditions and future court dates.
Whenever possible, courts should issue summonses, not warrants, to compel a defendant’s appearance in court.
Video Hearings
A defendant may appear for most court appearances via video when:
• The defendant waives the right to an in-person hearing;
• A video hearing is necessary due to health and safety issues or
• A video hearing is necessary due to a court’s “operational concerns”.
Mandatory Supervised Release (MSR)
MSR for defendants convicted of Class 3 and 4 felonies was changed from defaulting to no MSR to a default of 6 months MSR. The Prisoner Review Board must engage in a review to decide whether early discharge from such MSR is warranted.
Body Worn Cameras (BWC)
BWC footage flagged by law enforcement as being for “evidentiary value in a criminal prosecution” is excepted from the standard 90-day deletion timeline.
For more information about this new law, please contact:
Mark McCombs
Safer Foundation Public Policy Analyst
mark.mccombs@saferfoundation.org.