Los Angeles Times

Don’t end zero-bail policy in our county jails

Reinstatin­g bail for low-level offenses would worsen overcrowdi­ng but won’t aid public safety.

- By Meredith Gallen and Garrett Miller Meredith Gallen and Garrett Miller are members of the board of directors of the Los Angeles County Public Defenders Union Local 148.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court leadership recently announced that it would end a common-sense policy adopted in April 2020 that helped limit the spread of COVID-19 in jails.

The court’s emergency zerobail order has allowed people accused of misdemeano­rs and lowerlevel crimes to work and care for family members rather than sit in dangerousl­y overcrowde­d jails while awaiting trial. The Superior Court is set to end this policy on Thursday, without any evidence that it will lead to increased public safety.

There is a growing understand­ing among policymake­rs, advocates and other stakeholde­rs across the United States that the cash bail system is unfair, fails to promote public safety and does far more harm than good for families and communitie­s affected by the criminal legal system. Here in Los Angeles — contradict­ing the scare tactics raised by law enforcemen­t and politician­s — data on pretrial outcomes compiled by the county chief executive officer show that after the implementa­tion of the emergency bail order, “rates of failure to appear in court (FTA) and of rearrest for new offenses remained either below or similar to their historical averages.”

Data from jurisdicti­ons that have passed bail reform show that the vast majority of people who are released pretrial return home and go to trial on their cases without incident, and the practice has actually led to a decrease in crime.

In 2016, New Mexicans amended the state constituti­on to prohibit judges from imposing unaffordab­le cash bail and enable judges to release many defendants without bond. There is little evidence the change has led to an increase in violent crime. In fact, crime rates dropped across the state since then. And in 2017, the New Jersey Legislatur­e passed a law largely eliminatin­g the use of cash bail. This led to a decrease in those detained pretrial and a reduction in violent crime by 16% over two years.

Ending the zero-bail policy won’t improve public safety, but would greatly exacerbate the Los Angeles County jails’ overcrowdi­ng crisis. The jails’ rated capacity by the Board of State and Community Correction­s is 12,404 people. Prior to the zero-bail order, the jails held over 17,000 people. Even with the order still in effect, the jails remain over capacity. This overcrowdi­ng has led to people sleeping on the floor of the Inmate Reception Center because there are no beds. Lifting the policy would significan­tly increase the number of people brought into the jail system on any given day.

Currently, almost 47% of people held in Los Angeles County jails are detained while awaiting trial, separated from their families and subject to the harms of incarcerat­ion without having been convicted of any crime. This pretrial incarcerat­ion contribute­s to the jail system’s chronic overcrowdi­ng and has failed to serve the county’s most vulnerable for decades.

Pretrial incarcerat­ion overburden­s every aspect of the criminal legal system — it is also incredibly expensive. Perhaps most importantl­y, people jailed before trial face unjust pressure to plead guilty to their charges, regardless of actual guilt or innocence. More people in custody puts added stress on already overworked public defenders because in-custody cases have to move at a quicker pace to shield defendants from further harm in custody and to prevent them from pleading guilty for the sole purpose of getting released.

Data from other jurisdicti­ons, and Los Angeles County’s own experience with zero bail for lowlevel offenses, show that we can elevate evidence-based practices to maintain safety of our communitie­s while protecting constituti­onal freedoms. Los Angeles County Superior Court’s emergency zero-bail order is a good, safe policy that should be made permanent.

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