Cash Bail

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Grounded in 8 cited sources spanning left · center-left · center-right · right · academic · official — each linked below, so you can judge them yourself.

Cash bail is money you pay to get out of jail before your trial. You get it back only if you show up to all your court dates.

What it is

Cash bail is money you pay to get out of jail before trial. Researchers have studied what bail does, and what happens when places change it. People held in jail before trial are more likely to be convicted -- mostly because they plead guilty -- and being held can also cost people income over their lifetime. But research also finds that holding people lowers pretrial crime and missed court dates. Some places have cut back on cash bail to see what happens. In New Jersey, court appearance rates rose above 97 percent for the first time. One study of a place that dropped cash bail found no rise in missed court dates or pretrial crime, and another found people awaiting trial were no more likely to be re-arrested than before. But one study of New York's reform found re-arrest rose by about 3 to 5 percentage points.

How it works

When someone is arrested, they have not been found guilty yet. Bail decides who waits at home and who waits in jail, and with cash bail, that choice often comes down to money: people who can pay go home, while people who cannot pay may stay in jail -- before any trial, while they are still legally innocent. People do not agree on what bail is for. One side says its main job is to make sure people come back to court and to keep the public safe, since the risk of losing money gives people a reason to return. The other side says cash bail mostly jails people for being poor, not for being dangerous. To test these ideas, some places changed or dropped cash bail, and researchers measured what happened to court appearance and crime.

The debate — equal weight, both sides

The case for ending cash bail

left

Supporters of ending cash bail say it punishes people for being poor, not for being dangerous. Two people can face the same charge, but the one with money goes home while the one without sits in jail -- and neither has been found guilty. That gap has a real cost: one study found detained people lost about $29,001 in income over their lifetime, compared with people who were not held. Supporters also say cash bail is not even needed to keep the public safe. In places that reformed bail, research found people awaiting trial were no more likely to be re-arrested than before, and dropping cash bail did not raise missed court dates or pretrial crime. To supporters, the money mostly buys jail time for the poor without making anyone safer.

The case against ending cash bail

right

Critics of ending cash bail say the money gives people a real reason to come back to court, and that cash bail lets judges hold people who may be dangerous. That protection shows up in the research too: studies find holding people before trial lowers pretrial crime and missed court dates. Critics also worry about how New York changed its bail law. One analyst argued that judges should be able to hold high-risk defendants, no matter the charge -- and critics point to what happened after the change: one study found that re-arrest rose by about 3 to 5 percentage points following New York's reform. To critics, letting more people out before trial means more chances to skip court or commit new crimes, and they say public safety should come first.

Sources

Behind the summary

Cited by "The case for ending cash bail"

Cited by "The case against ending cash bail"

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