One year ago, Illinois made history by becoming the first state in the country to end the use of cash bail. passing the Pretrial Fairness Act. Despite fearmongering from opponents, since implementing the Pretrial Fairness Act we’ve seen lower crime rates, more robust court hearings, and decreased jail populations. Cash bail has historically been used to oppress individuals based on their financial situation, and we’re now seeing the positive effects of its elimination reverberate throughout our communities.
Before passage of the Pretrial Fairness Act, hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans who were legally innocent were held in our jails awaiting trial simply because they could not afford to pay money bail each year. While wealthy people routinely returned to the community before trial, poor people were jailed for weeks or months regardless of whether or not they were a potential danger to the community. This took an immense toll on families who were often forced to pull together enough cash for a loved one’s bail, diverting money from essentials like rent, groceries, education, and health care. The domino effects of one person’s incarceration extended far beyond the individual to an entire family and, ultimately, to the community, making Chicago less prosperous and less safe.
At the North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN), where I serve as President and CEO, we work to increase the earnings potential of the North Lawndale community through innovative employment initiatives that lead to economic advancement and an improved quality of life. Our clients include citizens returning from incarceration and others with significant barriers to employment. Since our launch 25 years ago, North Lawndale continues to have one of the highest unemployment rates in Chicago, largely due to many residents with criminal records struggling to find jobs and decades of racially motivated economic disinvestment.
Today, we continue to help our residents address these barriers by providing tailored access to training, job readiness, and employment support. For example, Sweet Beginnings, our social impact business, offers returning citizens full-time transitional jobs creating sustainable and all-natural urban honey and skin-care products for our beelove brand.
We’ve seen how the inability to pay money bail can create cycles of poverty and emotional turmoil, keeping individuals unemployed for years after their detention and diminishing their self-worth and ability to make a uturn in their lives. We’ve also now seen the powerful ripple effect when these cycles are broken – when people are treated according to their human dignity rather than their financial capacity and can support their families and participate in their communities.
Today, many NLEN clients are no longer held back by their inability to pay money bail. The Pretrial Fairness Act allows people to remain in their communities and retain housing and employment while awaiting trial. It allows families to stay together and sustain a stable income, meaning earnings can be reinvested back into the local economy. Employers can now retain hard-working employees, rather than losing them to lengthy pretrial detentions and being forced to spend precious resources to recruit and retrain replacements.
We’ve also seen an increase in employment rates for those we serve. In turn, we’ve seen a rise in local consumer spending around our campus, where more than $1.2 million has flowed back into our neighborhood. This is the result of increased access to jobs, resources, and a renewed sense of financial stability. More stakeholders understand the critical need for fair-chance policies. Businesses are also more inclined to hire people from our programs, with many employers actively reaching out to recruit our clients. They see the value in giving people a fair chance, and under the Pretrial Fairness Act, they feel empowered to do so. And they reap the benefits — employers who hire justice-impacted workers report that their quality of work and contributions are on par with or better than other employees, and turnover rates are notably lower. People want to work, and they want to work at companies where they are more than their record or biggest past mistake.Since North Lawndale Employment Network’s founding, graduates have returned to work with us, serving as coaches, production managers, delivery drivers, IT specialists, and more. When you hire people who have lived the experience and understand the challenges, it creates a powerful feedback loop: those who once struggled to find their place are now in leadership roles, guiding others toward success.
The Pretrial Fairness Act is a step toward breaking cycles of poverty, reducing recidivism, and creating pathways to employment and community reinvestment. We must continue to support policies that uplift, rather than punish, our most vulnerable populations. When we give people the tools to succeed, they will. And when they succeed, so does our entire community.
Brenda Palms is the President and CEO of the North Lawndale Employment Network.
