An alternative to cash bail comes with its own costs
The Economist spoke with our client and team in Indianapolis about the stigma, cost, and difficulty of electronic monitoring as an alternative to cash bail.
The Economist spoke with our client and team in Indianapolis about the stigma, cost, and difficulty of electronic monitoring as an alternative to cash bail.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors has authorized the Public Defender to expand their work with the Bail Project to the Van Nuys courthouse, after a successful pilot program in Compton.
From the video:
“Pre-trial detention has shifted from brick and mortar prisons to ankle monitors for people that have yet to be charged with a crime. Advocates say that it’s an alternative form of incarceration as they see an increasing number of people held without bond.”
Had the 2020 reforms been in place in 2018, the courts would have been required to order some form of release without bail in an additional 20,349 cases.
Robin Steinberg, executive director of The Bail Project, discusses how the cash bail system unfairly targets the poor during Justice For All, an MSNBC Town Hall event with Lester Holt on criminal justice reform at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York.
“The Bail Project is the first of its kind in the Natural State and in its three weeks operating in Northwest Arkansas, it’s been able to pay for 20 people to walk out from behind bars.”
Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha N. Braveboy announced her office will no longer request cash bail as a condition of release, but some worry the change could lead to an increase in GPS monitoring or judges holding people without bond.
An interview with our Bail Disruptor Madeline Porta by NPR affiliate KUAF, focused on one of our newest sites: Northwest Arkansas.
Risk assessment tools were supposed to make the way Kentucky courts released defendants from pretrial incarceration more fair. Instead, they benefited defendants who were whiter and wealthier than others, making disparities worse.
A local news story about our newest site opening in Charlotte, North Carolina.