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The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation last week designed to deter states and municipalities from instituting or continuing cashless bail programs, even though such policies recognize that the release of individuals from jail, pending their chance to argue their innocence in courts of law, shouldn’t be restricted based on a person’s income.
The Cashless Bail Reporting Act passed the GOP-led House on Thursday. Despite being supported by most Republicans in the chamber, it was also backed by 96 Democrats.
The bill expands a 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump, entitled “Taking Steps to End Cashless Bail to Protect Americans.” That order purports that individuals released without cash bail “are permitted — even encouraged — to further endanger law-abiding, hard-working Americans.”
However, research from the Brennan Center for Justice published in 2024 finds that there is “no statistically significant relationship” linking cashless bail to any increases in violent crime. The study noted that some people had incorrectly linked a sudden rise in crime during the COVID pandemic to cashless bail policies. However, the data from their study suggests such claims are baseless.
“There is no reason to believe that bail reform has led to increased crime,” the Brennan Center emphasized in its findings.
While data demonstrates that cashless bail doesn’t lead to the negative outcomes its critics suggest it does, cash bail systems widen inequities by creating a two-tier justice system based on income, which disproportionately harms people of color. Notably, the U.S. is one of just two countries around the world that allows a commercial bail industry that profits from people’s inability to post their own bonds.
The House-passed bill directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) to keep a list of jurisdictions that have enacted cashless bill programs, creating the opportunity for the federal government to restrict justice grants to these places in the future. The act also expands criminal liability for organizations that provide free assistance to people who cannot afford bail.
Democratic lawmakers opposed to the passage of the bill in the House spoke out against it, instead praising the concept of cashless bail as being both just and safe to enact.
“We have seen state and local governments making reforms to their bail systems in response to the growing body of research which has highlighted the inequities in bail systems, which disproportionately burden racial minorities, women and overwhelmingly the poor,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pennsylvania).
The bill and accompanying legislation that passed alongside it seeks to limit localities and states, undermining their “decision-making that places safety at the center of pretrial determinations,” said Erin George, national director of policy for The Bail Project, a nonprofit that “strives for a more perfect justice system, one that works for all people no matter their race or wealth.”
Holding public safety funding hostage to force one-size-fits-all bail policies is both dangerous and unconstitutional. States and local communities are best positioned to determine what works for their public safety needs, and courts must be able to make individualized decisions based on actual risk – not access to money.
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