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the bail project
Trump Order to Kill Cashless Bail Will Exacerbate Inequality While Doing Nothing to Fight Crime, Experts Say
"Cash bail is a system that preys on poor people," Wanda Bertram, of the Prison Policy Initiative, told Common Dreams.
Aug 25, 2025
US President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders on Monday aimed at ending the policy of cashless bail for people accused of crimes, a move criminal justice reform advocates say will heighten the already massive inequality within the system while doing little to stop lawbreaking.
One order requires Washington, DC, which the president currently controls under "emergency authority," to end its cashless bail program. The other directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify other jurisdictions around the country with cashless bail so that they can have their federal funds restricted or suspended.
Several states, including Illinois, New York, California, and New Jersey, have moved to significantly reduce or eliminate the use of cash requirements for those accused of crimes to be released pretrial. DC, meanwhile, was one of the first cities to implement the policy.
Jeremy Cherson, communications director for the Bail Project, told Common Dreams that cash bail creates a "two-tiered system of justice—one where people with money, regardless of risk, can pay bail and be released, whereas people without money will be detained, maybe unnecessarily, just because they can't afford to pay a bail amount."
More than 70% of the people currently held in jails—over 400,000 people—have not been convicted of a crime and are instead awaiting trial, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. In 2022, a report by the US Commission on Civil Rights found that 60% of them were there because they could not afford to pay bail.
People in pretrial detention are disproportionately racial minorities and those in poverty. A 2021 study by the Brookings Institution found that the average person in pretrial detention loses $30,000 on average during the process.
"Cash bail is a system that preys on poor people," Wanda Bertram of the Prison Policy Initiative, told Common Dreams. "They can lose their jobs and their housing. They can get disconnected from critical medical care that they might need. It's a very destabilizing experience."
Trump has claimed that cashless bail allows criminals to get out of jail without punishment and has caused cities to become cesspools of criminality.
"Somebody kills somebody, they go and don't worry about it," Trump told reporters on Monday as he signed the order. "No cash. Come back in a couple of months. We'll give you a trial. You never see the person again."
In a press conference earlier this month, Trump claimed that "every place in the country where you have no cash bail is a disaster."
"That's what started the problem in New York, and they don't change it," he said. "That's what started it in Chicago. I mean, bad politicians started it, bad leadership started it. But that was the one thing that's central, no cash bail."
But as Cherson explained, cashless bail policies are not a "get-out-of-jail-free card."
"They are often measured, calculated approaches that create a system and processes where people are evaluated for risks of flight or risks to other individuals if they're released, and a series of conditions are set against them, or they're detained pretrial," he says. "They're not all let out. So that's often misunderstood about what bail reform is."
Instead of using financial means, judges determine who will remain in detention based on an individual's flight risk or the danger they may pose to the community.
The key, Cherson says, is that "they need to have individualized hearings where we are making determinations about what happens if we release somebody based on more than a hunch."
According to an investigation by FactCheck.org, across all the states that have ended or limited cash bail, only one person charged with murder has ever been released without bail. A Rockville, Illinois, judge released the defendant in 2024 because the case against him was exceptionally weak, and the judge still required him to meet "fairly strict requirements" while awaiting trial.
"There is nothing to suggest that cashless bail makes cities less safe," Bertram said.
In 2023, PPI examined four states and nine cities and counties that had ended cashless bail. They found that every single one of these jurisdictions had "decreases or negligible increases in crime or rearrest rates after implementing reforms."
Many of the other major cities Trump has threatened with a federal military takeover, including Chicago and New York, have experienced massive drops in crime over the past year, contrary to Trump's claims.
Bertram said that in Washington, DC, where Trump has directly ended cashless bail, the program had been "extremely effective."
In 2022, the last year for which data is available, 93% of those released without bail were not rearrested. In 2019, the most recent year with data, 99% of those who were released for violent crimes were not rearrested.
According to its website, the Bail Project has provided free bail to 34,000 people across the country. Despite the lack of financial incentive, in 2024, 95% of its clients still returned to court, and 64% of them had their cases dismissed.
"Absent our intervention," Cherson says, "many of those people would have likely taken a guilty plea just to go home. They would have been overwhelmed by the circumstances that they're in."
"Crime is something that's very complicated," Bertram said. "It's caused by a lot of different things, including a lot of social determinants."
She noted that the Trump administration has instituted dramatic cuts to programs to reduce gun violence, investigate crimes, and provide services to victims, and to "all of the things that we know to be related to the social determinants of crime"—social safety net programs like Medicaid, investments in affordable housing, and services for those dealing with homelessness, addiction, and mental health issues.
Bertram said, "It is a useful distraction from the president's disinvestment in all those things to put this order in place about cash bail as if it's going to make any difference, which it's not."
"All these states, localities, and jurisdictions that have pursued efforts to minimize or eliminate the use of cash bail have done that in service of the core principles of our justice system," Cherson said. "Principles of equity and fairness and safety and the presumption of innocence."
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Freedom Isn’t Free When You’re Black and Poor
The unforgiving reality of cash bail transforms “innocent until proven guilty” into “guilty until proven wealthy.”
Feb 08, 2025
When I was 17, I was charged with a crime I didn’t commit.
During an argument, I was arrested and wrongfully accused of threatening someone with a firearm, which I hadn’t done. My bail was set impossibly high, far beyond what I could afford, especially as a father to a newborn son. Forced to wait for my day in court behind bars, I came to a heartbreaking realization: If I or someone in my family had been wealthy, I could have walked free. Instead, I was denied my presumption of innocence and ripped from my family because I couldn’t pay for my freedom.
The American criminal justice system, which promises equal justice under the law, punishes poverty, tears families apart, and devastates communities like mine.
We need a system where release is based on case-by-case assessments of safety, not wealth.
Sadly, my story isn’t unique. It reflects a system that routinely prioritizes wealth over justice, especially for Black Americans. As someone who personally faced the burdens of cash bail and now works to alleviate that burden for others through The Bail Project—a national nonprofit providing free bail assistance and pretrial support to thousands of low-income people every year—I firmly believe that we have two systems of justice: one for the wealthy and one for everyone else.
This system incarcerates over 60% of people arrested before trial simply because they can’t afford bail. Safety, not wealth or race, should determine who is held or released before trial. Yet, wealth often dictates freedom. Many accused face nonviolent, low-level charges and pose no risk to public safety, but the unforgiving reality of cash bail transforms “innocent until proven guilty” into “guilty until proven wealthy.”
When someone is arrested, a court can impose a cash bail amount: a sum of money required for their release before trial. If you have the funds, you’re released from jail, no matter the circumstances. If you don’t, you’re locked up. Sometimes for weeks, months, or even years.
Judges tasked with setting bail often make these critical decisions in less than five minutes, relying on limited information and implicit biases that disproportionately affect Black defendants, during hearings that rarely require evidence, and often proceed without legal counsel for the defendants. As a result, Black defendants are detained more often than white defendants facing the same charges. On average, courts impose bail amounts nearly $10,000 higher for Black individuals than their white counterparts.
This disparity has devastating consequences, especially in communities of color. Being jailed before trial makes it harder to fight your case, leading many to plead guilty, even if they’re innocent, just to get out. It risks jobs, housing, physical health, and child custody while exposing legally innocent people to unsafe and traumatizing jail conditions.
Consider Christopher, a Black Gulf War veteran who was arrested for alleged possession of a controlled substance. His bail was set at $1,000: an insurmountable sum for him. Christopher was forced to wait in jail for six weeks before his case was dismissed. During that time, he lost his job as a house painter and his PTSD worsened. All of that suffering, and it was for nothing.
Then there’s Ashley, a Black woman eight months pregnant when a scheduling error led to her arrest for a nonviolent misdemeanor. Unable to pay a $11,500 bail, Ashley spent three weeks in a filthy, overcrowded jail cell, sleeping on the floor without a mattress. She lost her job, her apartment, and was forced to sleep in her car with her newborn daughter after giving birth.
We need a system that ensures fairness and protects safety for everyone. We need a system where release is based on case-by-case assessments of safety, not wealth.
Fortunately, alternatives to cash bail exist and work. Illinois became the first state to completely eliminate cash bail in 2023, and judges now determine who needs to be detained pretrial based on risk to others, not money. This shift has kept communities safe while reducing the number of people needlessly incarcerated pretrial. Nationally, more than 30 cities have safely minimized the use of cash bail, according to research from the Brennan Center for Justice.
This Black History Month, as we reflect on how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go to achieve racial equality, let’s not overlook the urgent need for bail reform. Ending cash bail is more than public policy; it’s a moral imperative.
It’s time to put an end to cash bail and write a safer, fairer future for everyone.
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'Historic': Illinois Supreme Court Puts State Back on Track to End Cash Bail
"The implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act will make Illinois the first state in the country to remove the price tag from the presumption of innocence," said the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice.
Jul 18, 2023
Criminal justice reform advocates on Tuesday celebrated that Illinois is set to become the first U.S. state to eliminate cash bail by the end of this summer after the Illinois Supreme Court found that the law does not violate the state constitution.
The contested Pretrial Fairness Act—seen as a model for other states to follow—was passed as part of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act signed in February 2021 by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who, along with fellow Democrats Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and state Attorney General Kwame Raoul, joined campaigners in cheering the new court decision.
"The Illinois Constitution of 1970 does not mandate that monetary bail is the only means to ensure criminal defendants appear for trials or the only means to protect the public," the majority opinion states. "Our constitution creates a balance between the individual rights of defendants and the individual rights of crime victims. The act's pretrial release provisions set forth procedures commensurate with that balance."
The 5-2 ruling—Republicans Justices David Overstreet and Lisa Holder White dissented—overturns a December decision from a Kankakee County judge who sided with state's attorneys and sheriffs who sued over the law. The Illinois Supreme Court directed courts statewide to prepare to implement the policy by September 18.
Welcoming the decision in a statement Tuesday, the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice blasted money bail as "one of the most glaring injustices in our criminal legal system," and declared that "the implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act will make Illinois the first state in the country to remove the price tag from the presumption of innocence."
"Ending money bond addresses both economic justice and racial justice issues in the pretrial system. In communities across Illinois, Black people have been disproportionately impacted by wealth-based jailing," the network said, noting that the state locks up a quarter-million people in county jails each year. "Giving people the opportunity to stay in their communities while awaiting trial will enable them to keep their jobs, housing, and custody of their children, making us all safer."
While "conservatives have used fear-mongering and misinformation to try to derail its success" since the measure passed, now county officials must "put politics aside and work together to properly implement the law," the network stressed. "Continued attempts to sabotage the Pretrial Fairness Act would not only dismiss the will of the people, but also jeopardize community safety."
"This is a historic juncture in the fight against mass incarceration, but it is far from the end of our work," the network added. "It is critical that we don't stop at ending money bond and that realize our goal of dramatically reducing pretrial incarceration in our state. Ending money bond and reducing pretrial incarceration bring us closer to a future where our communities are safe, our people are supported, our system is fair, and wealth does not determine one's freedom."
David Gaspar, CEO of the Bail Project—which provides bail assistance while advocating for pretrial systems that are more equitable, humane, and just—also applauded the state Supreme Court's ruling on Tuesday.
"Today, the Illinois State Supreme Court affirmed what we've always known—that cash bail is un-American, it upends foundational American rights that everyone is equal under the law and innocent until proven otherwise, and has no place in our state statutes or constitutions," he said. "Where it exists, cash bail creates a two-tiered system of justice: one where those who can afford to pay bail get released, and another where those who are too poor to pay bail are forced to remain incarcerated while awaiting trial."
"With cash bail gone in Illinois, it's time for policymakers to immediately fund and scale effective nonfinancial alternatives to cash bail like court notifications, travel assistance, and referrals to crucial supportive services that help people return to court and avoid justice system involvement altogether," Gaspar added. "Our own work demonstrates that with these smart investments and enough support, people will return to court more than 90% of the time without any of their own money on the line."
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