Cash Bail Punishes The Innocent For Being Poor
Criminalizing poverty doesn’t make us safer.
Cash bail has created a two-tiered justice system: people with means are afforded due process. Those who are poor are incarcerated, even while they’re presumed innocent — including 77% of those now jailed on Riker’s Island.
Due process should not be something you have to buy.
Cash bail is intended to guarantee that defendants show up to their court date in order to get their money back. But in practice, New York’s bail system affects poor people, mainly people of color, who are often charged with low-level offenses with bail set above what they and their families can afford. They have not been convicted and are presumed innocent — and kept in jail only because they can’t afford bail requirements. That means they’re being incarcerated because they’re poor.
One of our most important constitutional rights are the presumption of innocence. Cash bail undermines that presumption. It punishes presumed innocent people as if they are guilty, and keeps them from their jobs and families. Cash bail causes poor people to lose jobs and homes, and takes an immeasurable toll on children in affected families.
No one should be treated differently because they are poor or because of their race.
If we want to change this, we have to change the way in which bail is determined. This starts with:
NO CASH BAIL
Cash bail is no problem for wealthy defendants like Harvey Weinstein, who can afford a get-out-of-jail-free card no matter what they’ve done. For the average accused person, ability to pay might determine whether you get to go home to your family and continue to earn income at your job, or whether you stay in jail until trial. And jailed defendents are under more pressure to accept a plea, despite the merits of their case.
The Atlantic reports that as many as nine in 10 people stay in jail because they can’t afford to post bond. How many people can afford to have others look after their family or go without their only source of income for an extended period of time?
- Cash bail creates a two-tiered justice system: one for the wealthy, and one for everyone else.
NO RISK ASSESSMENT TOOL
Algorithmic risk assessment tools aggregate statistics about the same people who are most frequently targeted by unfair policies. As a result, they deem the victims of those policies the most risky. Live in a poor minority neighborhood that’s had more arrests? Risks assessment tools assume you’re a bigger risk.
- Risk assessment algorithms systemically discriminate against poor and minority populations.
NO PRETRIAL DETENTION FOR MISDEMEANORS
Detaining people charged with misdemeanors punishes people solely because they can’t pay, and pressures them into guilty pleas, with no public safety benefit. It destroys families and denies economic opportunity to those who desperately need it.
- No one should have their economic livelihood and family destroyed because they can’t pay for being charged with a low-level offense.
New York must lead the way in ending America’s mass incarceration crisis.
The US puts more people awaiting trial behind bars than most countries have in their jails and prisons combined. As one of the nation’s progressive leaders, we must ensure that New York gets this right.
Please join our call for genuine reform to abolish cash bail—sign the petition:
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