Confronted by GOP critics and confused constituents, Illinois Democrats made fixes to their sweeping criminal justice law

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — After months of blistering attacks from Republicans as well as some criticism from members of their own party, Democratic lawmakers came together during the final legislative session of the year to approve changes aimed at clarifying their controversial criminal justice overhaul.

The changes were approved along party lines just a month before Illinois is set to eliminate cash bail for criminal defendants. It marked the third time lawmakers have approved amendments to the policy, known as the SAFE-T Act, since Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed it into law in early 2021.

While Democrats preserved and expanded supermajorities in the Illinois General Assembly and held on to every statewide office in the Nov. 8 election, the party struggled to shake off the weak-on-crime narrative that Republicans pushed in making crime their top issue in the election. In the end, voters didn’t buy it, but that didn’t stop Democrats from making changes to the law they had promised were coming as they confronted GOP criticism.

“Certainly Nov. 9, when you’re looking at those results, it would have been easy