Illinois ended cash bail. Who gets held before trial in 2026?

Three years ago, Illinois passed the Pretrial Fairness Act. TCR examines how the law has reshaped pretrial detention in Cook County and where racial and economic disparities persist, particularly among people charged with gun possession.

Illinois eliminated cash bail in 2023 through the Pretrial Fairness Act—a policy that was championed by advocates who pointed to cash bail as a source of economic inequality in the state’s legal justice system.

Prior to the passage of the Pretrial Fairness Act, the cash bail system mandated that people who could not afford to post bail remain in jail until their hearing.  

The act altered this to a system that determined pretrial detention based on assessed risk rather than capacity to post bail. 

Racial disparities persist

There was an initial decrease of just over 14 percent in the average daily population at Cook County Jail post-PFA, but the population has since exceeded  pre-PFA levels..

During the first quarter of 2026, more than 5,800 people were detained in Cook County Jail per day on average. While awaiting trial, the average person spends more than two months in Cook County Jail. 

Nonwhite Cook County residents typically see longer detentions, with Black arrestees waiting more than 70 days in jail compared to 47 days for white arrestees. 

Unlawful gun possession

Racial disparities can also be observed in arrest rates for weapons possession offenses.

Nearly four out of five of those arrested for gun possession in Chicago between 2021 and March 2026 were Black, recent research reveals. 

The research also found a 60 percent increase in the pretrial detention of Black men aged 18-40 in Chicago charged with unlawful gun possession since the PFA was introduced.

Barriers to legal gun ownership 

Legally carrying a gun in Illinois requires two licenses: Concealed Carry License (CCL)—which can take three months to process and can cost around $450, along with a 16 hour training requirement—as well as a Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID). Even if successful in satisfying the process requirements, a criminal record can be a barrier to obtaining a FOID and CCL. An individual is not eligible for a FOID if convicted of any felony.

Some residents say that they choose to obtain and carry a gun unlawfully not with the intention of using it, but because of fear or a feeling it is needed for safety. 

(Close) Austin Segal, Research Director, at Appleseed Press Conference in May 2026.JPG

“A lot of people feel that they’re choosing between violating the law […] or putting their life at risk,” Austin Segal, Director of Research at Chicago Appleseed, told The Chicago Reporter. 

“The reason that people carry a gun is because they often don’t feel safe in their communities. And the reason that they often don’t feel safe in their communities is because Chicago is not investing enough in a lot of its communities.”

The connection between gun arrests and traffic stops 

Some arrests for unlawful gun possession stem from the discovery of a weapon during traffic stops, which disproportionately target Black drivers in Chicago. This may contribute to District 7 (Englewood) accounting for the highest proportion of unlawful gun possession arrests among the city’s 25 Police Districts with 9 percent of such arrests logged there, according to recent Harris Community Action research.

Cook County State’s Attorney

Since taking office in December 2024, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has taken a more aggressive approach to unlawful gun possession cases. 

While prosecutors seek pretrial detention in a minority of detention-eligible cases overall, a recent report from the Chicago Appleseed shows that, in Burke’s first calendar year Burke’s office petitioned for pretrial detention in more than half the cases involving common gun possession charges—more than double the rate under former State’s Attorney Kim Foxx during her final year in office. 

Unlawful gun possession charges are an exception. Among the most common of such charges in Cook County are Unlawful Possession of a Weapon (UPW), Unlawful Possession of a Weapon with a Felony (UPWF) and Aggravated Unlawful Possession of a Weapon (AUPW).

Public Defender Sharone R. Mitchell Jr., who leads the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, said the trend suggests detention decisions are increasingly driven by policy rather than individual assessment of risk.

Mitchell Jr. told TCR that a shift in perspective could alter the system from reactive to preventative.

“Too often our criminal legal system is focused, I think, on anger,” he said. “And I don’t know how effective that is. I think oftentimes a better solution is [to] figure out why you did this thing. Let’s try to figure out a way for us to put our resources in ensuring that doesn’t happen again. And some people might call that soft. I think I call that smart.”