Bail system needs serious fixing

It’s unsettling that the man accused of killing five people and injuring at least 48 others in Wisconsin was free on a $1,000 cash bail despite his serious criminal history.

Police say Darrell Brooks, 39, was the driver of an SUV that rammed through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wis., and now faces five counts of first-degree intentional homicide.

Authorities said Brooks was recently freed from Milwaukee County Jail on $1,000 bail after being accused of running over the mother of his child in a parking lot.

His long criminal record included two felony counts of second-degree recklessly endangering the safety of others using a dangerous weapon in 2020. Both cases are ongoing, reported the Milwaukee Journal.

On Monday, the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office put out a statement saying the $1,000 bail was “inappropriately low.”

Of course it was “inappropriately low” and there is no excuse, given the seriousness of Brooks’ crime.

The system is broken, and it needs fixing.

It needs fixing to make sure minorities aren’t locked up in greater numbers just because they can’t afford to pay bail.

But it also needs fixing to pay close attention to each case and decide accordingly based on several factors, including risk to society.

We must balance ensuring that people aren’t needlessly in jail on bails that they can’t pay while ensuring that bail is set high enough to keep potentially dangerous people locked up.

“Cash bail favors the rich, who can pay it and go home, while poorer people are frequently forced to remain in jail while they await trial,” Seema Jayachandran, an economics professor at Northwestern University, argued in The New York Times.

Data show the same. It’s real. And so, we must not let this horrific crime derail discussions and the work many are doing to reform the criminal justice system.

Brooks’ financial situation wasn’t immediately clear, but records show he was in and out of jail. And he happens to be Black. And he happens to be part of the system that too many say disproportionately keeps minorities locked up.

Again, this isn’t about excusing him. Letting Brooks go free on just $1,000 is, in retrospect, incredibly low and inappropriate.

That shouldn’t mean, though, that we should stop thinking about how best to reform the bail system.