The Illinois Supreme Court Pretrial Implementation Task Force (Task Force) will host town hall meetings via Zoom on October 27 at noon, and repeat the presentation at 4 p.m. The topic of these town hall meetings will be the detention hearing process under the Pretrial Fairness Act (PFA). The Task Force has also posted a flowchart and considerations document covering the detention hearing process on its webpage here.

Town hall meetings update stakeholders and the community on the work of the Task Force as it helps jurisdictions prepare for the changes coming when the PFA goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2023, and provides the opportunity to answer questions regarding the PFA. The Task Force was established in 2020 by the Illinois Supreme Court, and the Hon. Robbin Stuckert (ret.) serves as Chair.

The PFA, legislation passed as part of Public Act 101-652, abolishes the use of cash bail in pretrial release decisions as of Jan. 1 and establishes new processes for pretrial release and detention decisions.

Task Force resources including flowcharts and considerations, as well as video of previous town halls, a schedule of upcoming town halls, and a list of Task Force members and subcommittees, can be found here. Prior town halls have covered topics such as an introduction to the PFA, release by citation, release from custody, pretrial assessment tools, and first appearance hearings.

Town hall meetings are typically scheduled for the third Thursday of the month at noon and the meeting in November is scheduled for Thursday, November 17. Any questions regarding the town halls and the work of the Task Force can be sent to pretrialtaskforce@illinoiscourts.gov.