In a troubling move that overturns criminal justice reforms passed in 2018, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law Wednesday a Republican-backed bill expanding the use of cash bail. Starting July 1, judges will be required to set bail in cases where previously they could have decided to release people without financial conditions. People who are legally presumed innocent but can’t afford to pay bail will be stranded in jail on charges for minor, nonviolent misdemeanor offenses that wouldn’t require incarceration if they were convicted. Even worse, the law simultaneously attacks charitable bail funds, one of the only lifelines that low-income residents have in these situations.
“The law simultaneously attacks charitable bail funds, one of the only lifelines that low-income residents have in these situations.”
The law will restrict charitable bail funds, and even individuals, from helping more than three people in need of bail assistance per year and subject them to criminal charges if they don’t comply. None of these restrictions will apply to for-profit bail bond agents, who charge a 10% premium for their services, and who rarely face the same levels of scrutiny that bail funds do. Without charitable bail funds, more poor Georgians will be forced into often-predatory contracts with bail bond agents to get their loved ones out of jail.
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