If you have watched the news lately, you may have heard politicians expressing the need for bail reform laws, specifically cashless bail. Bail is best defined as “…the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required”. The way a defendant is released is to pay bail once the trial is over, and in some cases, defendants will be able to get their money back. Recently, some politicians have started to promote cashless bail, which is like bail, except they are not detained and released without having to pay bail.
In an ideal world, this would be perfect, but then again, crime would never occur in a perfect world. Many cities promote cashless bail, with Illinois becoming the first state to eliminate cash bail, and now states like California and New York (state) hope to do so as well. When people support cashless bail, their heart is often in the right place, but they often overlook the potential consequences. New York City is considering reenacting the cash bail system, as crime has spiked since they eliminated it.
Illinois has also faced a spike in crime recently, which comes before cash bail will even go into effect next year. Illinois state representative Patrick Windhorst said, “I know after talking with prosecutors and law enforcement officers, they’re really concerned that the public is going to point the finger at them and say, ‘Why aren’t you doing more about these offenses?’ And with this major change in the law, a lot of their ability to do their jobs has been restrained.”
Windhorst elaborated by discussing how certain crimes are not even going to require and detention period before trial, “Violent crimes, burglary, robbery, arson, kidnapping, almost all drug offenses, DUI offenses, even DUI offenses involving a fatality, do not qualify for detention under the Illinois Safety Act… That’s going to mean a lot of individuals are committing crimes and being released immediately, if not within a couple of days.”
Looking over the crimes Windhorst listed, this begs the question, “Do these people belong on the streets?” Consider the crimes that wouldn’t even require a detention period, like fatal DUI offenses, kidnapping, and violent crimes. Who honestly thinks the people who commit these acts should be released on cashless bail? There is less of a guarantee that these individuals return for their trial, and many people that are released continue to commit crimes and are arrested again. AmericanProgress.org states that “Cashless bail criminalizes poverty (and) fuels mas incarceration…”. That is a desperate appeal to the feelings, especially saying that it” criminalizes poverty”, but poverty has little to nothing to do with cashless bail.
The people who are arrested for the crimes mentioned in Patrick Windhorst’s quote aren’t incarcerated for innocent reasons. It would appear that the old adage rings true, "if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime". No one is forced to kidnap or commit arson, so why should they be rewarded by being released back into the streets? This idea is grossly unfair to the citizens who did not do anything wrong.
Look no further than in New York City, where Mayor Eric Adams is trying to change their bail laws because of the crime spike, where he has openly stated that the bail reform laws of 2019 did not work. CBS New York reports Adams saying, “Those who say that the predicted wave of recidivism wouldn't happen and the studies that claim to show that the rate of arrests for violent felonies has not changed since the reforms were passed, I have one word for you: Wrong. You are wrong.”
In that same CBS New York article, they discuss the failure of this bail reform/cashless bail effort by including a fact about how career criminals take advantage of bail reform. “10 men arrested 485 times after bail reform was enacted for all kinds of crimes -- burglary, robbery, grand larceny, stealing cars. Yet, they have been let out again and again by judges who think they don't have the right to hold them in jail.” Keep in mind that this is just NYC, and many cities continue to hurt their citizens by engaging in a failed practice that nearly refuses to punish criminals. It would be wise to look past the dubious statements that bail “criminalizes poverty” and is “unfair”. It is important to remember that people commit these acts knowingly, and abolishing cash bail will only drive surging crime rates.
Have an opposing viewpoint to this opinion? Let us know. All views are welcome. Send your thoughts to our Editorial Staff – Editor Dylan Hicks dhicks@student.edu or Dean Daily Faculty Advisor, Professor John Rooke jrooke@dean.edu
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