Cali Eliminates Cash Bail System

Kalief Browder died so many of us can walk; this is a tough truth. When talking prison reform, Browder has become the face of what can happen when innocent people get caught in a complicated, unfair, and unjust judicial system. When people talk prison reform, what California has done is seen as a major win in an effort to reforming an unjust system.  California has become the first state to eliminate the cash bail system for suspects awaiting trial.  Signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, this is a measure that creates a balanced system when dealing with poor and rich citizens.  Although this is a major accomplishment, there are still some major concerns in replacing the current cash bail system with one that grants judges greater power.

Granting judges complete control is a major concern for some justice groups; even with this bold move, there still is some reservation.  Some groups withdrew their support for the California bill, believing that it may lead to an increase in pretrial incarceration.  Many fear that because judges make the final decision as to who is a flight risk and who is not,  solely leaving it at a judge’s discretion is not a viable solution to the problem. Some reform groups against the bill are stating that California simply replaced one unjust system for another – one based on possible bias instead of poverty.

“Unfortunately, this amended version of [Senate Bill 10] is not the model for pretrial justice and racial equity that the ACLU of California envisioned. We oppose the bill because it seeks to replace the current deeply-flawed system with an overly broad presumption of preventive detention.” – ACLU of California’s three executive directors in northern and southern California and San Diego

Problems with the Current Cash Bail System in America:

• Unfairly targets poor people and people of color.
• Often, people awaiting trial cannot afford the amount set by the courts, and are forced to sit in jail and await their “fair trial”.  This wait has often taken years, which is ludicrous for people who haven’t been convicted of crimes, and could be innocent.
• According to the Department of Justice, 6 out of 10 people who were incarcerated in 2014, were NOT convicted, but were simply awaiting a trial.
• “It impacts black folks about twice the rate as it impacts white folks. Black men are twice as likely to have a bond set on them, and the bond is often twice as high for the same crime.” – Marbre Stahly-Butts, co-director of Law for Black Lives, interview with VICE

Slowly over the past few years, there’s been a strong, grassroots effort across the United States to reform the cash bail system.  For example, in Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner announced he would no longer ask for monetary bail from people with low-level offenses.  In Atlanta, lawmakers drafted an ordinance eliminating cash bail for low-level city violations and some misdemeanor charges.  Also, in a monumental decision in Houston, a federal judge declared the county’s cash bail system unconstitutional, stating it, “deprived impoverished people of due process.”  New Jersey has curtailed their cash bail, Alaska no longer requires bail, and New York is also pushing for reform. California will be the first state to actually dismantle the cash bail system.

Source : Washington Post