The ISBA’s 2022 Annual Meeting Opening Reception was held on June 9 at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. This Annual Meeting was one of the first opportunities for members to gather in person since 2019.  PC: Eugene McKinney 

WHAT: The Illinois Supreme Court Pretrial Implementation Task Force (Task Force) will host a series of monthly town hall meetings starting on June 23. These meetings will provide an update on the work of the Task Force as it prepares for the changes coming once the Pretrial Fairness Act (PFA) goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2023, and will answer related questions. Questions can be submitted ahead of time to pretrialtaskforce@illinoiscourts.gov 

In Feb. 22, 2021, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law HB 3653. Among the many provisions contained within HB 3653 (now Public Act 101-0652) is the Pretrial Fairness Act (PFA), a massive overhaul of Illinois’ cash bail system. The PFA makes Illinois the first state to eliminate monetary bail, creating a system in which defendants will be released or detained pending trial based on their risk of nonappearance and/or their perceived dangerousness. If the individual does not fit a certain set of predetermined criteria, they must be released. In his June Illinois Bar Journal article, “Illinois, Out on Bail,” Thomas A. Drysdale compares Illinois’ new law to the federal criminal system, which has operated without cash bail for more than 35 years.

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