SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
cash bail
Why Mutual Aid Is Vital to Criminal Justice Reform’s Next Chapter
Bail funds play a powerful and important role not only in reducing the structural harms caused by our nation’s reliance on failing cash bail policies, but also in strengthening and preserving our country’s democratic ideals.
Dec 24, 2024
As political analysts continue to piece together the results of this year’s general election, an illuminating takeaway has emerged on issues related to criminal justice: Voters who cast their ballot in red states also voted in local elections for reform-minded candidates and passed progressive criminal justice ballot measures; whereas in some blue states, voters preferred candidates who promise to implement tough-on-crime policies.
These results show that people’s political beliefs no longer easily fall along party lines. And criminal justice reform doesn’t offer any obviously easy solutions. For many, what matters most is feeling safe in our communities. It also suggests that most people believe accomplishing this requires us to no longer view matters like criminal justice as partisan issues.
When I think about this, the legacy and words of John Lewis—a civil rights leader turned congressman—spring to mind: “We cannot thrive as a democracy when justice is reserved for only those with means,” Lewis wrote in 2020. It was at the height of a national movement for racial justice, and his words and the social unrest were signs of a new movement for a more just and equitable America. Lewis was 80 years old then and severely ill with cancer, yet he remained optimistic about the future of America. Several years since his death, Lewis’ lifework and reflections still resonate deeply.
Supporting different networks of mutual aid organizations, like bail funds, is how communities can lean on their shared values and hold tight to their purpose.
As our nation works to bridge divides and find common ground, Lewis’ legacy continues to offer our nation guidance. From the Jim Crow era of the 1960s to the political and racial justice movement that swept the country in 2020, Lewis witnessed our country’s capacity to transform. His life experiences and reflections offer a roadmap for how people can protect and strengthen American democracy. He believed, for instance, that democracy cannot thrive “where power remains unchecked and justice is reserved for a select few. Ignoring these cries and failing to respond to this movement is simply not an option—for peace cannot exist where justice is not served.”
In today’s America, countless people are still living on the receiving end of that reality. Unarmed Black men continue to be brutally beaten by police. Women are being criminalized for pregnancy loss and for seeking reproductive healthcare. Meanwhile, families are being torn apart by a broken criminal justice system that puts a price on freedom for the legally innocent. But Lewis’ words offer us insight: “As a nation, if we care for the Beloved Community, we must move our feet, our hands, our hearts, our resources to build and not to tear down, to reconcile and not to divide, to love and not to hate, to heal and not to kill.”
To follow in Lewis’ footsteps means viewing this moment in our nation’s history as an opportunity to turn feelings of frustration and uncertainty into positive engagement with our community and fellow neighbors. One way to do that is through mutual aid—the practice of ordinary people helping others in their community by providing resources and services to help meet people’s needs. Groups organized for this purpose, like local community bail funds and The Bail Project, exist to support people when the government does not. Through wealth-based detention that results from the use of cash bail, our cities, states, and counties have shirked their responsibility to preserve the presumption of innocence, establishing a two-tiered system of justice: one for the rich, and another for everyone else.
Charitable bail organizations, like The Bail Project, are often local grassroot groups spearheaded by people from the communities they serve, staffed, for example, by faith leaders, legal experts, and advocates for criminal justice reform. Charitable bail organizations provide free bail assistance and even supportive services—such as court reminders and transportation assistance—to incarcerated people who have already been deemed eligible for release by a judge. In fact, many of the legally innocent people they help have been accused of low-level nonviolent misdemeanors, such as forgetting to attend a scheduled court date. Oftentimes, the only reason people remain incarcerated in jail before trial is because they cannot afford to pay the court a few hundred dollars in exchange for their release before trial—not because they pose a risk of flight or public safety concerns.
Bail funds play a powerful and important role not only in reducing the structural harms caused by our nation’s reliance on failing cash bail policies, but also in strengthening and preserving our country’s democratic ideals. In providing people who a judge has already determined is safe to release with free bail assistance and court support, we safeguard our country’s notions of liberty, freedom, and the presumption of innocence. These are fundamental principles that underpin American democracy—regardless of political affiliation. This work helps our society reimagine how our bail and pretrial systems can be improved.
As we look ahead, the road forward may not be easy, but we’re not alone on it. The work of mutual aid groups and charitable bail funds has helped usher in change. Over the last decade, more than 20 cities have safely minimized the use of cash bail. Supporting different networks of mutual aid organizations, like bail funds, is how communities can lean on their shared values and hold tight to their purpose. Now, more than ever, we must keep our eyes on what we’re here to accomplish, the change we’re fighting for, and the commitment that brought us together. Because, in the words of Lewis: “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
A Year of the Illinois Pretrial Fairness Act Sets a National Model for Reform
By ending the use of money bail, the law not only curbed incarceration rates but also maintained public safety.
Sep 24, 2024
One year ago the Illinois Pretrial Fairness Act went into effect. By ending the use of money bail in courts across the state, it both reduced the number of people in jail pending trial and made the legal system more fair and just—at no cost to our safety. After 12 months, the impressive results are in, and policymakers across the country should take note.
Recent data released by Loyola University’s Center for Criminal Justice indicates that the Pretrial Fairness Act has not only curbed incarceration rates but also maintained public safety. Jail populations decreased by 14% in Cook County and other urban jurisdictions and 25% in select rural counties. As these jail numbers have dropped, so have crime rates across Illinois—for example, statewide violent and property crime rates dropped by 12%. As a case study for the practicality and necessity of bail reform, the Pretrial Fairness Act has proven its impact.
In passing the law, leaders in Illinois followed a robust body of evidence that finds wealth-based detention undermines both safety and justice. A two-tiered legal system where someone who is wealthy can afford to pay bail and return home pending trial while someone who cannot afford their freedom languishes in jail—for weeks, months, or even years—is not just. Moreover, years of research shows that pretrial detention is counter to public safety, as even a few hours in jail is so destabilizing that it makes a person more likely to be arrested again in the future.
Illinois’ success shows there is no false choice between being safe or having a more just legal system.
Loud opponents of bail reform in Illinois claimed that the law would empty jails and compromise public safety. They spent $40 million on a high-profile campaign to undermine the Pretrial Fairness Act even before it went into effect, calling the law “the Purge” and using racist dog whistles to peddle sensational and false stories about crime. But the evidence speaks for itself, and Illinois’ success is not an outlier. Data from New Jersey, which enacted bail reform over seven years ago, shows the jail population declined and the number of people awaiting trial in jail fell by 40% while crime rates went down. Even in New York, where bail reform has been much maligned, a recent study found that the reform has not contributed to a rise in crime.
A significant cross section of Illinois stakeholders came together in support of the Pretrial Fairness Act: Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, law enforcement leaders from across the state, and advocacy groups like the Coalition to End Money Bond, the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice, The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, and the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, to name just a few.
Importantly, victims and survivors of violence were a key part of the movement to end money bail in Illinois. What motivated this diverse group of champions for reform? For one, the shocking racial disparities that result from a money bail system, where Black and brown families, and families experiencing poverty, disproportionately bear the brunt of making an impossible choice between paying for the freedom of their loved one versus making rent, putting food on the table, and paying for other basic necessities.
A money bail system also forces people to make the impossible choice of staying in jail to insist on their day in court or pleading guilty to go home. Ending the money bail system in Illinois was also a matter of gender justice. Mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, and other women are most often the ones to pay bail when their loved one is incarcerated. And, of women who are incarcerated, 70-80% have experienced intimate partner violence. Taking money bail out of the equation and having fewer people—including women—behind bars begins to right some of those wrongs.
There are many other important statistics that drive home the point that we need to eliminate money bail not only in Illinois, but across the United States. Black people represent 13.6% of the United States population but account for 53% of exonerations. People incarcerated for as little as 72 hours are 2.5 times more likely to be unemployed one year later. Illinois’ success shows there is no false choice between being safe or having a more just legal system. As we celebrate a year of the Illinois Pretrial Fairness Act, people around the country should take note. Wealth-based detention has always been an obstacle to a safer future, but we have real solutions that deliver both safety and justice.
Keep ReadingShow Less
We Must Expose and Confront the Expansion of Cash Bail Laws
Expanding the racist criminal justice system is a cynical GOP election-era ploy, one that has little to do with public safety.
Mar 16, 2024
Many Americans haven’t heard of cash bail. But the idea is central to an election year battle over racism, policing, and mass incarceration.
When arrested on suspicion of committing a crime, everyone in the United States has the right to due process and to defend themselves in court. But in a cash bail system, when judges set bail amounts, those who cannot pay the full amount remain jailed indefinitely—a clear violation of their due process rights—while the rich can pay their way out of jail.
A 2022 report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights examined the impact of cash bail and found that between 1970 and 2015, the number of people jailed before trial increased by a whopping 433%.
Reversing progress on bail reform is a new flashpoint in the GOP’s culture wars.
There are currently about half a million such people stuck in jails across the nation who haven’t been tried or convicted of any crimes. The report also found “stark disparities with regards to race,” with Black and brown men most often subject to higher bail amounts.
Thankfully, many states and cities are moving to reform this unfair practice.
In 2023, Illinois became the first state to entirely abolish cash bail. Other states, such as New Mexico, New Jersey, and Kentucky, have almost entirely ended cash bail requirements in recent years. In California, Los Angeles County has also similarly eliminated cash bail for all crimes except the most serious ones.
But in this election year, Republicans are rolling back these efforts—most recently in Georgia.
The state recently passed a bill expanding cash bail for 30 new crimes, some of which appear to be aimed at protesters, such as unlawful assembly. Further, it criminalizes charitable bail funds—and even individuals—that bail out people who can’t afford to bail out themselves.
Marlon Kautz, who runs the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, called cash bail “a loophole” in the criminal justice system, allowing courts to indefinitely jail people without charges if they cannot pay exorbitant bail amounts.
“Police, prosecutors, and politicians want a bail system that allows them to punish their political enemies, poor people, and people of color without trial,” said Kautz, whose fund has bailed out people protesting a massive new police training facility opponents call “Cop City.” Kautz was one of three people affiliated with the fund to be arrested on apparently politicized charges last year.
Reversing progress on bail reform is a new flashpoint in the GOP’s culture wars. “It could be a sign that Republicans intend to bash their Democratic opponents as soft on crime,” The Associated Press reported. Alongside Georgia, Republicans in Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin have introduced numerous bills expanding the use of cash bail.
Expanding the racist criminal justice system is a cynical GOP election-era ploy, one that has little to do with public safety.
“It is exceedingly rare for someone who’s released pretrial to be arrested and accused of a new offense that involves violence against another person,” said Sharlyn Grace, an official at the Cook County Public Defender’s office in Illinois. “Fears about public safety are in many ways greatly overblown and misplaced.”
“National studies contradict” the claim, the AP adds, that people are any less likely to show up for a court date if they’re released without bail.
Election years are a scary time for people of color in the U.S. They are marked by race-based voter suppression efforts, a rise in racist political rhetoric, and even a surge in racist hate crimes. The expansion of cash bail laws is yet another attack on Black and brown communities—one that must be exposed and confronted.
We shouldn’t let reform efforts fall victim to election year politics.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular