Bail reform goes into effect Monday. Here’s how it could protect victims of domestic violence

Madeleine Behr of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation outside the organization’s Loop offices. (Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times)

Over and over, a woman who lost a daughter to domestic violence talked of how the criminal justice system “just didn’t care,” repeatedly releasing a man from jail until police say he finally made good on his threats.

“I think that if they take it seriously the first time then, the people, the perpetrators won’t so easily keep doing what they do,” said the woman, who asked not to be named. “If they would have taken it seriously the first time and especially the second time… They just didn’t care enough.”