No cash bail Illinois: A year after end of bail, early research shows impact less than many hoped or feared [Video]

CHICAGO — One year after Illinois became the first state in the nation to eliminate the use of cash bail, the impact on the state’s criminal justice system appears to have been far less dramatic than people on either side of the debate had predicted.

That, at least, is the early indication from an analysis of data being monitored by the Center for Criminal Justice at Loyola University in Chicago.

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“Jail populations did go down a bit, but nowhere near as much as some people were predicting, and the research suggests that the rate at which people are being released from jail pretrial likely hasn’t changed dramatically,” David Olson, a co-director of the center, said during an interview this week.

“What’s changing is that the means of release are changing,” he added. “People don’t have to post the money, and rather than …