Implementing the Pretrial Fairness Act and culture change management

Project: Cook County Implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act Working Group, Cook County Pretrial Fairness Act Culture Change Management

Clients: Cook County Office of the President, Cook County Office of the Chief Judge, Cook County Public Defender, Circuit Court of Cook County, Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, State’s Attorney of Cook County

In January 2021, the Illinois legislature passed the Pretrial Fairness Act (“PFA”). This historic legislation restores the presumption of innocence and makes Illinois safer by ending money bond and the unconstitutional practice of jailing people pretrial simply because they cannot afford to buy their freedom.

We supported the Cook County Pretrial Stakeholders Group in standing up the Pretrial Fairness Act Implementation Working Group, which is responsible for implementing the requirements of the State Pretrial Fairness Act by January 2023 (when the Act goes into effect). Pretrial detention can have dire consequences—many pretrial detainees lose their homes, jobs, or even custody of their children, without ever being convicted of a crime. We collaborated on building a working group structure that brought key system stakeholders, advocates, experts, funders, and individuals with lived experience to the table to work towards implementing the policy and practice changes required by this complex but critical legislation.

Beyond implementing significant policy and practice changes, realizing the lasting change intended by the spirit of the PFA – creating a more equitable and safe criminal justice system – requires a complementary culture change. After launching the working group, with support from a pro bono partner, we moved on to building a change management plan. Over the course of three months, a pro bono partner facilitated dozens of workshops with leaders across Cook County justice system agencies to share change management best practices, understand perceptions of and perspectives on the Pretrial Fairness Act, and develop agency-specific change management plans to ensure successful implementation of this legislation.