Lake County State's Attorney Pushes Back Against Republican Disinformation

Westchester, Ill. – Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart is a vocal proponent of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity- Today Act (SAFE-T Act) because the law makes Illinois' criminal justice system fairer, more equitable, and keeps communities safer.

In a recent video posted on social media, Rinehart explains nearly every major advocacy group for victims and survivors in Illinois supports the law.

"The people who have been spending their life advocating for survivors and victims, many of whom are victims and survivors themselves, believe in this legislation," said State's Attorney Rinehart. "Illinois is going to be a leader with respect to safety decisions. Illinois is going to be a leader in eliminating racial disparities in our courthouse because of the SAFE-T Act."

In a robust and well-funded disinformation campaign, Republican officials and their allies have resorted to using right-wing political mailers disguised as newspapers intended to mislead people and spread falsehoods to influence the upcoming election. They've claimed the SAFE-T Act was passed without input from law enforcement and will make communities less safe, but Rinehart accurately points out that this is untrue.

"For five years, leaders in the legal system, leaders in law enforcement, leaders in the legislature have been working on get this right," he said. "This partisan disinformation is really undermining what should be an attempt for the entire state to come together to implement an act that is going to make people safer and that is finally going to get rid of racism and classism that has kept some people in jail, while others have been able to buy their freedom."

Instead of allowing people to buy their way out of jail regardless of the crimes they're accused of committing, the SAFE-T Act allows judges the ability to hold people in jail based on the risk they post to the community. In a recent interview on WGN, Rinehart dispelled the myth that violent offenders will be let out of jail once the law goes into effect on January 1st.

"This disinformation campaign is saying that rapists and killers are going to be let out. That's a lie. That's wrong and it retraumatizes victims," said Rinehart. "The jail doors will not swing open on January 1st because we're going to be able to hold people. We're going to get rulings between now and January 1st in Lake County. We're already starting to file the petitions to say who should be held and who shouldn't be held."

Lawmakers in Springfield continue to work with legal experts, like Rinehart, as well as law enforcement, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders to ensure the law is properly implemented.