If you were arrested and charged right now, you'd either have to wait in jail until your trial, or post bail (to act as collateral) and be released.SourceLA TimesEndorsement: Yes on Proposition 25 to end bail and the poverty penalty“In reality, a suspect is more often brought to the police station to be booked, and there — without a hearing, without a lawyer and without a plea — an officer pulls out the bail schedule and tells the defendant to pay up or else be transported to jail to wait a day, a week or more before finally being brought before the judge. The officer will direct the defendant to a poster that lists various bail bond agencies. One of those agents will promise to bail out the defendant, for a price — usually about 10% of the full bail amount. The money will never be returned”Read more If you show up to your trial, the bail amount is returned. But what if you didn't have the money to pay your bail out-of-pocket, and what if waiting in jail for months would cost you your job? That's where bail bonds come in. These privately-owned companies front the bail for you, but ultimately you owe them some chunk of it (sometimes 10%). It's a multi-billion dollar industry in California.SourceThe Mercury NewsEditorial: Support Prop. 25, end California’s unfair cash-bail system“The United States and the Philippines are the only two countries in the world that allow companies to operate for-profit bail operations. The industry is powerful. And profitable. The top 10 companies cover an estimated $14 billion in bonds every year, raking in $2 billion in profits. California accounts for an estimated 25% of that business.”Read more
Prop 25 is straight-forward. A Yes vote would get rid of the cash bail system and replace it with a risk assessment system – how likely is the individual to flee or cause harm? A No would keep cash bail. The state already voted to end cash bail in 2018SourceThe New York TimesCalifornia Is the First State to Scrap Cash Bail“California on Tuesday became the first state to fully abolish cash bail, a step that backers said would create a more equitable criminal justice system, one less dependent on a person’s wealth.”Read more, making it the first state to do so, but the bail bond industry collected enough signatures to put Prop 25 on the ballot as a last-ditch effort to save themselves from extinction.SourceSF ChronicleEditorial: End money bail, vote yes on California’s Proposition 25“The bill cleared the Democratic-controlled Legislature by large margins and was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on Aug. 28, 2018.But the powerful bail-bonds industry, faced with an existential threat, was not about to go away easily. It bankrolled a petition drive to put the measure on the ballot, which received enough signatures to qualify for the Nov. 3 election as Proposition 25.”Read more
Under the proposed new system, people placed in jail for most misdemeanors will be automatically released after 12 hours.SourceLegislative Analyst's OfficeProposition 25“This proposition requires people placed in county jail for most misdemeanors, which are less serious crimes than felonies, to be automatically released within 12 hours of being placed in jail. Certain people placed in jail for misdemeanors, such as those placed in jail for domestic violence or who have failed to appear in court more than two times in the past year, would not be automatically released.”Read more People placed in jail for felonies or some misdemeanors would be assessed for their risk for flight or danger to the public.SourceLegislative Analyst's OfficeProposition 25“This proposition requires that people placed in jail for (1) felonies and (2) misdemeanors that are ineligible for automatic release be assessed for their risk of committing a new crime or failing to appear in court if released. Assessment staff would collect certain information, including each person’s risk level as determined by a pretrial risk assessment tool. Staff would generally be required to release people found to be low risk.”Read more Based on the assessment, the court would release "low-risk" and some "medium-risk" individuals, potentially with additional supervision, such as check-ins by a staff member or an ankle monitor.
Some crimes would automatically disqualify the individual from release, and they would be jailed until their trial. These include certain sex offenses, domestic violence, stalking, violating a restraining order, a third DUI (driving under the influence charge), threatening a witness, or if the person was recently convicted of a felony.SourceOC RegisterYes on Proposition 25 for a more just and fair criminal justice system“In addition, people would not be eligible for release if they were arrested for certain sex offenses, domestic violence, stalking, violating a restraining order a third DUI or threatening a witness, or if the person had been convicted of a serious or violent felony in the last five years, or had violated the conditions of pretrial release in the past.”Read more
Critics of Prop 25 argue that the new system might be more biased because 1) the proposition says an "algorithm" would need to be developedSourceSF ChronicleEditorial: End money bail, vote yes on California’s Proposition 25“Mike Gatto, a former assemblyman and attorney who has studied constitutional law, said he seriously objected to replacing money bail with an algorithm. “For some of us, that’s just a brave new world,” Gatto said, suggesting that most judges would simply follow the risk assessment presented to them. He has opposed Prop. 25.”Read more to help judges assess risk and 2) because pre-trial imprisonment would be up to a judge, it can be abused.SourceThe New York TimesCalifornia Is the First State to Scrap Cash Bail““The bill gives a lot of power to the courts, which may be used in ways that raise concerns,” said Natasha Minsker, an advocate in the California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes the law. Ms. Minsker also said the law “lacks protections against racial bias.””Read more
Supporters of Prop 25 say that the algorithm will simply be another aid to judges. Judges ultimately have a lot of discretion, but that's a good thing, supporters say, because in case this system is not good at first, they would adjust their approach.SourceThe San Diego Union-TribuneEditorial: Yes on Prop. 25: Cash bail destroys lives“The law drew criticism from some civil liberties groups because it continues to give judges the power to indefinitely lock up suspects they are worried about. But this should actually persuade voters that this measure is not as radical as some in law enforcement warn. If the state’s experiment goes awry, judges can adjust their approach.”Read more They also say that determining a person's pre-trial release based on risk rather than their wealth is a much fairer systemSourceSan Francisco ChronicleEditorial: End money bail, vote yes on California’s Proposition 25“This is a significant improvement from the current system where money decides who stays in jail and who gets released before trial. As of June 30, of the 61,000 people in California’s county jails, only 17,000 were actually sentenced to confinement, according to the Board of State and Community Corrections. The injustice and racial disparities of the status quo are not hypothetical.”Read more. Lives have been upended because they've had to spend months in jail, despite being presumably innocent, and all because they couldn't afford bailSourceThe New York TimesCalifornia Is the First State to Scrap Cash Bail“In January, a California Court of Appeal criticized the practice of setting bail above what defendants can pay, ruling that a defendant “may not be imprisoned solely due to poverty.” The ruling came in a case involving Kenneth Humphrey, 64, who spent almost a year in jail, unable to afford his $350,000 bail, after he stole $5 and a bottle of cologne from a 79-year-old disabled man.”Read more. The current system disproportionally affects Black and Latino peopleSourceThe San Diego Union-TribuneEditorial: Yes on Prop. 25: Cash bail destroys lives“ National studies that show bail amounts for Black and Latino men are typically a third higher than those for White men are astonishing and appalling.”Read more, who are more likely to be low-income.