The SAFE-T Act—short for Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today—eliminated cash bail statewide through the Pretrial Fairness Act. The law allows dangerous individuals to walk free before trial, undermining public safety and justice for victims.
“As someone who has spent almost two decades on the front lines of law enforcement, I’ve seen firsthand how dangerous the revolving door of cashless bail has become,” Rep. Sheehan said. “Illinois was the first state to eliminate cash bail, and since then, countless communities have suffered the consequences—violent offenders walking free, victims retraumatized, and officers re-arresting the same criminals again and again. This is chaos.”
Two recent cases have reignited public outrage and cast a harsh spotlight on the consequences of the SAFE-T Act.
In March 2025, Megan Bos was reported missing. Her remains were discovered a month later in a storage container in Waukegan. The suspect, Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, confessed to hiding her body for weeks, yet was released pending trial under the SAFE-T Act’s bail provisions. Her grieving mother stood alongside State Representatives Patrick Sheehan, Tom Weber, and Patrick Windhorst to demand change.
“We cannot continue to uphold a law that forces judges to release dangerous criminals back into our communities, especially those who are here illegally,” said Rep. Weber. “The fact that Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez lived freely in our state for months after abusing and hiding a body in his backyard is unthinkable and is a direct result of Illinois’ disastrous SAFE-T Act.”
Just weeks later, another tragedy struck. Two-year-old Trinity Balen-Weiher died in a case of horrific neglect and abuse. Her parents were charged with first-degree murder, but were released before trial. Investigators found drug use, squalid living conditions, and overwhelming evidence of harm, yet the SAFE-T Act allowed them to walk free.
The SAFE-T Act’s elimination of cash bail replaced monetary conditions with a risk-based assessment system. But The Illinois Policy Institute noted that the bill was rushed through the legislature with confusing and contradictory language, leaving law enforcement and courts scrambling to interpret its provisions. Even proponents of reform have acknowledged that the law needs refinement to balance fairness with safety.
In response, President Donald J. Trump has issued an executive order directing federal agencies to withhold funding from jurisdictions that have eliminated cash bail for crimes posing a clear threat to public safety. The order cites the release of violent offenders as a “waste of public resources and a threat to public safety,” and calls for a return to “commonsense policies” that prioritize law-abiding Americans.
Illinois was the first state to eliminate cash bail entirely, but as the tragic stories of Megan Bos and Trinity Balen-Weiher show, reform without accountability can have devastating consequences. The SAFE-T Act has real-world impact that demands serious reexamination.
We need to strengthen judicial discretion and ensure that victims, not perpetrators, are at the center of our justice system. Justice delayed is justice denied, and in Illinois, too many families are still waiting. The SAFE-T Act must be repealed before any more tragedies take place.