Illinois is poised to become the first state to completely eliminate cash bail — expanding an approach that has seen some success across the country. (WBEZ)
Flanked by lawmakers and supporters, Gov. JB Pritzker picks up the nearly 800-page criminal justice reform bill after signing it into law during a ceremony at Chicago State University on the South Side, Monday, Feb. 22, 2021.Flanked by lawmakers and supporters, Gov. JB Pritzker picks up the nearly 800-page criminal justice reform bill after signing it into law during a ceremony at Chicago State University on the South Side, Monday, Feb. 22, 2021.
As researchers at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government found, “There are so many different approaches to bail reform and because few jurisdictions rigorously evaluate the bail reforms they have implemented, there is not a clear blueprint for what works.”read more “People do better when they are connected to their family [and] they are employed,” Rahman said. “Jail interrupts all of that … and has incredibly negative consequences.”
“Jurisdictions across the country spend millions and millions, if not billions, of dollars incarcerating people pretrial for no public safety benefit,” Rahman notes. While cash bail is not completely prohibited, it has not been the status quo there for three decades. It can only be imposed for those deemed at risk of fleeing the jurisdiction and cannot exceed a person’s ability to pay.
The appearance rate for defendants has remained similarly high, with 89% of defendants showing up for court.In New Jersey, court officials have reported similar results after the state passed a slew of criminal justice reforms in 2017 under Republican Gov. Chris Christie, including the near elimination of cash bail.
“The reality is that there is no magic crystal ball. … These systems are in place to do their best,” said Emily Schwartz, a former public defender who now works at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. The Journal noted that the number of people denied release for serious crimes had also increased, declaring it “welcome news to those favoring preventative detention.”In the early 2010s, Alaska had a problem: The number of people it was jailing was expected to grow faster than the state could keep up with housing for them. And falling oil prices were leading to severe budget cuts.
Six months later, the law was amended to give judges more discretion over bail decisions. The state “essentially went back to the old bail statute,” said Susanne DiPietro, director of the Alaska Judicial Council. Now, more than half of the state’s incarcerated population is being held pending trial, worse than before the bail reform was passed, according to DiPietro, who also cautioned that the reason for that is unclear and likely complicated by crime trends during the pandemic.New York got rid of cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies in 2020.
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