Criminal Justice Reform and Bail Reform

Introduction
What is criminal justice reform? It is the focus on improving the criminal justice system through the implementation of evidence-based best practices, policies that promote greater equitability fairness, and systems that are more cost-efficient (National Criminal Justice Association, 2019). One area in which reform is needed is the issue of bail. Bail is the bond that allows an arrested individual to leave jail while awaiting trial, which could last for many months. If the individual has the money, he may post bail. If not, he is stuck in jail. Essentially, the system favors the rich over the poor (ACLU, 2019). There are many examples of abuses regarding bail—from the woman mistakenly jailed pre-trial, who ended up losing her job and kids as a result (Woods & Rosnick, 2019) to the $2 billion bail industry that profits off the impoverished (ACLU, 2019). This paper will discuss the history of reform, pros and cons, incarceration rates, advocacy efforts, the current arrest and detention process and statistics in New Jersey.
Criminal Justice Reform Background
In the 1990s there was an attitude in America that the government needed to “get tough” on crime. This led to the creation of the Three Strikes policy and to higher rates of incarceration, the rise in racial profiling, and other abuses—such as prosecutors essentially cornering suspects into pleading guilty just to avoid a lengthy trial and a potentially harsher sentence if the defense should fail to persuade of innocence (Vitiello, 2003). Reform measures have been around for as long as the system has, however. Even in Charles Dickens’ day in England there was a push for reform of a system many viewed as unjust. In America, the Progressive Movement was interested in reform and today there are activists like Angela Davis who view the system as inherently racist since a disproportional percentage of incarcerated people are black. Congress has recently taken measures to reform the system again with The First Step Act, which aims to reduce harsher sentencing for non-violent offenders (Platt, 2018); however, the system is in need of greater reform beyond that—and bail reform is one of the areas where it is needed immensely.
Bail Reform
There are six different forms of bail: citation release, surety bond, recognizance, property bond, immigration bond and cash bond. The citation release is when police give you a citation release at your home that tells you when you need to be in court to face charges. The surety bond is offered by company that deals in bail bonds to a defendant and means the defendant is liable for paying the bail amount if he fails to show in court: essentially, the company covers the cost of bail up front and collects payment later. Recognizance is when the bail fees are waived and the judge accepts the defendant’s promise to appear in court. The property bond is when the defendant uses property as collateral to post bail. The immigration bond is used when the defendant is an illegal immigrant. The cash bond is when the defendant pays bail in cash.
Risk factors taken into consideration are whether the defendant is considered a flight risk (i.e., he will run or try to leave the country so as to avoid trial); other factors include past history of criminal activity. First time offenders without any history of crime are likely to receive more favorable bail terms.
Bail is required in most cases because although the Sixth Amendment guarantees the defendant a right to a speedy trial, usually trials are anything but. In the meantime, the defendant has a life to get back to, so bail becomes a necessary way for the court to assure the defendant will come back for trial—unless he is willing to lose out on the money posted for bail.
Pros and Cons
The pros of the bail system are that it allows the defendant to return to his life while he waits for trial. The cons are that it favors the rich over the poor. The poor are unlikely to have funds to post bail and so to avoid trial and to avoid waiting in jail they will take a plea bargain and admit guilt even if they are innocent. This means the system is creating an environment in which there is a miscarriage of justice inherently built into the proceedings.
Incarceration Rates
The U.S. makes up 4.4% of the world’s population but has 22% of the world’s prison population. Out of every 100,000 people in the U.S. 716 of them will be in jail. The ACLU (2019) posits that 440,000 people or 70% of people incarcerated in jail at any given time “are there pre-trial, often because they can’t afford to pay a bail requirement set for their freedom.” The average cost of bond for a felony charge? Over $11,000. Most people cannot even afford a $400 surprise payment because most people in America live paycheck to paycheck.
Advocacy Groups
The Sentencing Project
The Sentencing Project is a D.C.-based advocacy group that aims to reduce incarceration rates and end racial disparity in the criminal justice system. Its goal is to preserve the rights of the accused and bring reform to the justice system.
The Marshall Project
This online project consists of journalists focusing on criminal justice issues to bring more transparency to a system that is often shrouded and opaque. It is a non-profit that aims to make justice reform a national emergency.
Grassroots Organizations
The St. Louis Action Committee and the Arch City Defenders are two examples of local, grassroots organizations that seek to stop criminal justice abuses. Their focus is on reform in St. Louis but they have won interest from national organizations like The Bail Project that have similar goals (Ziegelheim, 2018).
Current Arrest, Detention and Pretrial Process
Arrest occurs when officers determine they have sufficient evidence that will allow prosecution to charge the suspect with a crime and prosecute him in a court of law. The suspect is detained while charges are made. The pretrial process consists of determining pretrial release conditions: the judge is supposed to set conditions that are least restrictive but will still ensure a court appearance.
Statistics in New Jersey
Bail reform may be working in New Jersey. According to the state’s annual bail reform report, the state’s pretrial jail population has declined nearly 44% since the start of 2016 (Drug Policy Alliance, 2019). More importantly the report shows that in 2018, only 102 defendants had money bail set for them, out of a total defendant population of 44,383. Nearly 90% of arrestees were released within 24 hours of arrest and 99% were released within 48 hours of arrest (Drug Policy Alliance, 2019).
Conclusion
What can be concluded from this research is that bail reform is needed and that once it is implemented it can create a system of greater equitability, as can be seen in New Jersey. Grassroots organizations can help make this possible. The more that they align with national organizations and pool their resources, the more impact they will have.
References
ACLU. (2019). ACLU lawsuit goes after $2 billion bail industry that profits off poor people. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-lawsuit-goes-after-2-billion-bail-industry-profits-poor-people
Drug Policy Alliance. (2019). New Jersey Judiciary Releases Annual Bail Reform Report, with Additional Key Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.drugpolicy.org/press-release/2019/04/new-jersey-judiciary-releases-annual-bail-reform-report-additional-key
National Criminal Justice Association. (2019). Criminal justice system improvement. Retrieved from https://www.ncja.org/ncja/policy/criminal-justice-reform
Platt, T. (2018). Criminal justice reform in the U.S. has a long history of repressive outcomes. Retrieved from https://www.salon.com/2018/12/27/criminal-justice-reform-in-the-u-s-has-a-long-history-of-repressive-outcomes/
Vitiello, M. (2002). Three Strikes Laws-A Real or Imagined Deterrent to Crime. Hum. Rts., 29, 3.
Woods, A. & Rosnick, J. (2019). Mistakenly Jailed Pretrial, an Ohio Mother Lost Her Job and Kids. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/blog/smart-justice/bail-reform/mistakenly-jailed-pretrial-ohio-mother-lost-her-job-and-kids
Ziegelheim, D. (2018). Grassroots Organizations Are Leading The Way On Criminal Justice Reform. Retrieved from https://psmag.com/social-justice/the-grassroots-organizations-leading-criminal-justice-reform