Yes: Jail time shouldn’t depend on what’s in your wallet
DDaniel Dew
aily headlines confirm that America’s criminal-justice system needs improvement. Less reported — but even more significant — is voter appetite for common-sense measures to fix a broken system of unnecessary pretrial detention and associated abuses of money bail.
A recent poll by the Pretrial Justice Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio found that registered voters across the state don’t want Ohio’s criminaljustice system to jail people accused, but not convicted, of crime unless it is necessary to protect public safety. Otherwise, Ohioans prefer alternatives that do not unfairly favor those with money.
Currently, arrested people who can afford bail too often return to their communities regardless of the danger they might pose. Meanwhile, poor and working-class people — who enjoy the same presumption of innocence — can languish in lock-up for days, weeks or months awaiting trial. This unnecessary detention based on wealth threatens people’s jobs, education, housing, health and even families.
Ohio policymakers from both sides of the aisle have adopted some common-sense improvements to bail and pretrial practices — and these reforms have proved successful. Lucas County, for example, started using pretrial assessment in 2015 to better inform detention decisions. In the first 18 months, the use of money bail was reduced by half, the number of arrested people showing up for scheduled court appearances increased by 12 percent and the rate of arrests on new charges declined from 20 percent to 10 percent.
The Franklin County court system also introduced pretrial improvements in 2016 with the implementation of risk assessments and creation of a pretrial services program. The initial program, begun with a grant from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, intended to address the repeated detention of people with severe mental illnesses who spent an average of 32 days in jail while their cases were pending. Since these programs were introduced, judges have been increasingly willing to use pretrial supervision rather than detention for those arrested.
Ohioans are hungry for more improvements like these.
Seventy-five percent of Ohio voters polled want to reduce unnecessary arrests for low-level, nonviolent offenses, preferring citations to appear in court instead. Fifty-three percent think prosecutors should make the case for pretrial detention rather than compelling the accused to argue for their pretrial freedom.
Many Ohioans rightly favor reforming the failed status quo that relies so heavily on secured money bonds — cash bail or money bail. Seventy percent of respondents support limiting how many days people not charged with serious violent crimes may remain in jail before trial if they cannot afford money bond. Fifty-five percent of voters support using unsecured bonds, which require payment only if the accused person fails to appear in court.
Ohioans also broadly favor improving and broadening services that help people
— who have been released before trial — to make it to court, such as telephone or text message reminders of their court dates, transportation to the courthouse and community supervision.
Many of the basic but fundamental reforms favored by voters will not only improve the state’s justice system and enhance public safety, but also promote a more responsible use of the taxpayers’ hard-earned money. The Ohio Legislative Services Commission has calculated that the average Ohio jail bed costs taxpayers $65 per night, compared with as little as $5 per day for supervised release — an option that would suit the vast majority of people who are accused but unconvicted.
Ohio voters have spoken. They strongly support commonsense criminal justice reforms that will ensure fairness and responsibility while also improving public safety. It is time for Ohio’s policymakers to listen.