On any given day in the United States, more than 450,000 individuals – presumed innocent and not convicted of a crime – are held in local jails awaiting trial. Most are there simply because they cannot afford bail.
Approximately 70% of all people incarcerated in jails in this country have not been convicted of a crime. As the “front door” to our nation’s prison system, our local jails process more than 11 million people annually, and 3 in 5 are people too poor to afford the bail amounts set for them. With an annual price tag of more than $15 billion, taxpayers are shouldering a high price for a failed system.
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What’s at Stake
Racial bias and structural inequality lead to Black people being detained pretrial at a higher rate than Whites. Black defendants represent more than 43% of the pretrial jail population in the United States. Black people makeup only 12% of the total U.S. population, yet are 33% of the total jail and prison population. Pretrial incarceration widens economic and racial inequalities, destabilizes families, undermines individuals’ employment opportunities, and compromises public safety. In just a few days of detention, an accused person can lose their housing, employment, parental rights, and other family connections.
The money bail system undermines the core constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence.
What Needs to Change
LDF calls on District Attorneys to immediately stop the practice of asking for monetary bail and to support its elimination entirely.
Critical pretrial reform includes the presumption of release for all non-violent crimes. In those limited circumstances where immediate release does not apply, defendants must be provided a prompt adversarial hearing with a right to counsel and a right to expedited appeal. Jail should always be a last resort.
Prosecutors should encourage the use pretrial services to ensure that defendants have the least-restrictive conditions on their liberty. These are effective means of ensuring people appear for trial without money bail.
Prosecutors should support the elimination of risk assessments and other racially biased algorithmic prediction tools in pretrial decision-making.
How You Can Help
You can demand that your local prosecutor’s office stop asking for money bail. If your local prosecutor does regularly request bail, demand they make their data public, transparent, and justify the continued use of money bail. You can also be a part of the accountability movement to end money bail by joining your local Court Watch and ensuring greater transparency in how prosecutors do their jobs in your community.
