Inequities in cash bail system

The Sedgwick County jail is packed. In fact, it’s so crowded that not a week goes by where inmates who are being held on charges in our local courts aren’t shipped out to other jails all over the state as a means of managing the flow of inmates at our own detention facility.

The rise of incarceration numbers since the early 1980s has been well documented. Americans have become more familiar with statistics showing that more than 2 million people are presently incarcerated, roughly 700,000 in local jails. A strong majority of these 700,000 are held pre-conviction for one reason: they are too poor to purchase their freedom.

Every person charged with a crime enjoys a constitutionally protected presumption of innocence. While that presumption of innocence is applied the same to the wealthy corporate defendant as it is to an indigent defendant, these two individuals face stark differences when it comes to their ability to maintain their liberty while their case is pending.

To illustrate, look no further than Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced former Hollywood producer who’s alleged to have used his position of power as a means of subjecting women to unwanted sexual advances. Following formal charges of rape and sexual abuse (among others), Weinstein turned himself in, was given a $1 million bail, and was promptly released from custody after writing a seven-figure check.

The vast majority of people awaiting trial in the Sedgwick County jail are being held on far less serious allegations. Like Weinstein, there is a presumption of innocence, but unlike Weinstein, these individuals are simply too poor to buy their freedom.

Although they are technically presumably innocent just as Weinstein, in reality they are at the mercy of judges and prosecutors when it comes to their ability to get out of jail.

Being held in custody prior to trial has an enormous impact on a defendant’s personal life and their ability to defend their case. Many inmates will lose their jobs, their housing, and some could lose their children. Statistics show a defendant is three times more likely to be sentenced to prison if held in custody while their case is pending and will receive on average twice as long of a sentence as compared to people who can buy their freedom while their case is ongoing.

Many will understandably be quick to argue that keeping these folks in jail makes our communities safer, but the data does not support that conclusion. Look to Washington, D.C., where money is not used to detain pretrial defendants.

By embracing risk assessments that look at several factors in making a decision to release a defendant, D.C. has achieved a system where, in 2014, 99 percent of released defendants were not rearrested on a crime of violence while in the community pending trial and 88 percent of defendants never missed a single court appearance after being released.

The system is broken, but it can be fixed. In recent years, more attention has been given to the injustice of a cash bail system that affords such radically different outlooks. Better options exist, and our criminal justice will become more just if such options are embraced.

This story was originally published June 21, 2018 at 3:58 AM with the headline "Inequities in cash bail system."