The fight over cashless bail: What you need to know
The issue of cashless bail is back on lawmakers鈥� minds this week as President Donald Trump鈥檚 congressional allies work to advance legislation that would, in certain cases, ban the reform that releases low-risk defendants without money payments before trial. The president and his supporters claim the practice puts the public in danger from potentially dangerous individuals who may reoffend.
In late August, the president signed two executive orders: one directing federal officers in the District of Columbia to seek pretrial detention for offenders 鈥渢o the fullest extent permissible,鈥� and another threatening to withhold federal funding from cities and states that have largely eliminated cash bail. The Department of Justice has yet to release an anticipated list of places it鈥檚 targeting for their use of cashless bail.
Meanwhile, a bill introduced by Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York, that would prohibit cashless bail in Washington, D.C., was advanced out of the House Rules Committee on Nov. 17. Leaders of the district urged Congress to reject the effort as federal overreach.
Why We Wrote This
Cashless bail is meant to ensure low-income people don鈥檛 have to stay in jail pretrial, unless a judge deems them dangerous. President Donald Trump says the system is dangerous and is pressuring cities and states to end it.
What is cashless bail?
Traditionally, bail is money posted by defendants to secure their release before trial. Because it is a refundable deposit, it serves as a kind of insurance that defendants will return to court. Critics say this system punishes the poor: Wealthier defendants can more easily post bail, while low-income people might have to stay in jail, sometimes for months.
Cashless bail reforms aim to address this issue by replacing money bail with risk-based or individualized assessments. Judges decide whether someone should be detained or released based on factors like public safety and flight risk, not their ability to pay.
Why is the White House targeting it?
President Trump has seized on high-profile crimes by people released pretrial 鈥� incidents amplified in conservative media to claim there is a revolving door in the justice system.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, a man with a long arrest record was freed on a written promise to appear in court 鈥撀燼 form of cashless bail聽鈥� before allegedly fatally stabbing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, on a light-rail train in August. The killing became a rallying cry for opponents of bail reform, who argue that repeat offenders are slipping through the cracks with little accountability.
Federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security arrived in Charlotte this week in a highly publicized campaign against both illegal immigration and crime. (The suspect in Ms. Zarutska鈥檚 murder is a U.S. citizen, not an illegal immigrant. But Republican state lawmakers and federal officials are using the case to highlight concerns about crime and Mecklenburg County鈥檚 鈥渟anctuary鈥� policies.)
The president has also used cases like that of Ms. Zarutska to portray bail reform as 鈥渢he Radical Left鈥檚 fantasy鈥� that has turned American streets into 鈥渉unting grounds for repeat criminals.鈥� But researchers say these examples are outliers: Study after study has found that the overwhelming majority of defendants released without bail appear in court and do not reoffend while awaiting trial.
Can the president overrule state bail reforms?
No. The federal government can鈥檛 override state criminal procedure. But Republican lawmakers are considering legislation to tighten pretrial release rules in states like New York and Texas. North Carolina, in September, 鈥淚ryna鈥檚 Law,鈥� which eliminates cashless bail for certain violent crimes and repeat offenders. Some rules reintroduce money bail for certain offenses or allow judges more discretion to weigh whether a defendant might pose a danger to himself or others.
As the White House could try to punish states and cities financially, legal experts say withholding federal funds or issuing fines over bail policy is likely to spark lawsuits. In recent months, courts have struck down similar attempts by the Trump administration to overrule states on various issues, including sanctuary city practices, education policies, and immigration enforcement.
鈥淭here鈥檚 certainly a chance of litigation,鈥� says Sharlyn Grace, a deputy public defender in Cook County, Illinois. 鈥淭he courts have stopped many of the president鈥檚 attempts to use unrelated funding as a way to punish states and municipalities with policies he doesn鈥檛 like.鈥�
What does the evidence say about whether cashless bail works?
Several states and jurisdictions have curtailed the use of money bail for low-income, low-risk defendants over the past decade, including Alaska, California, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington, D.C., promoting alternatives like supervised release.
But after violent crime rose sharply in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, many politicians, police leaders, and pundits were quick to blame bail reform.
In , researchers have found no correlation between bail reform and higher crime rates.
In 2024, the Brennan Center for Justice conducted to assess the causal impact of bail reform on crime trends. The study found no statistically significant relationship between bail reform and crime rates.
Illinois became the first state to fully eliminate cash bail in September 2023. Over the next year, violent crime fell by 12%, jail populations declined by 14%, and court appearance rates remained high at 95% overall and 98% for violent felony cases.
In Chicago鈥檚 Cook County, homicides dropped 16% and shootings fell 23% compared with pre-reform levels, while 84% of people released pretrial were not charged with any new offense, and 94% were not charged with new violent crimes.
Experts caution against drawing a straight cause-and-effect line. Some studies focus directly on defendants released without bail, while others track broader trends in crime.
鈥淭he president is right that the current system is broken, but wrong about the solutions,鈥� said Jeremy Cherson, communications director at The Bail Project, an advocacy nonprofit. Criminal justice experts point to interconnected issues, like mass incarceration, uneven sentencing among racial and socioeconomic groups, overcrowded and underfunded jails, and overuse of plea bargains as contributors to larger systemic problems. 鈥淲e know bail reform is working. It reduces unnecessary jail time, strengthens court appearance rates, and makes communities safer.鈥�
What鈥檚 next?
If the president moves to withhold federal funds based on his executive orders, states will likely sue. States like Illinois say their laws remain unaffected by the executive orders.
President Trump鈥檚 executive order on Aug. 25 directed the Department of Justice to provide a of places that have 鈥渟ubstantially eliminated cash bail鈥� for 鈥渃rimes that pose a clear threat to public safety and order.鈥� If that list is released publicly, it is expected to escalate legal fights 鈥� and set up another test of how much power Washington has to shape local criminal justice policy.
