Requiring cash bail is a public safety issue, says the White House. Research from where the system has been reformed in the most fundamental way possible tells a different story.
What is cashless bail and why does Trump want to end it?
President Trump will sign two executive orders surrounding cashless bail policy. This is what cashless bail means.
A new executive order from the White House aimed to stop bail reforms has given Illinois (the first state to completely eliminate cash bonds) a spotlight on national debate over bail and crime.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 25 that would cancel federal funds over jurisdiction that would allow suspects to be released without posting bonds. Trump says mandating cash bail will help make the country safer by preventing suspects from being allowed to walk freely before trial and commit another crime.
However, Illinois research data shows that fears of widespread crime after bail reform have not been burned, experts say. Crime rates in Prairie are actually declining, some experts say.
“There’s always been concerns that bail reform will cause skies, but it definitely didn’t happen in Illinois,” said University of Chicago researcher Allison Siegler. “All the evidence I’ve seen points to positive results since Illinois eliminated cash bail. It’s not clear from the data that things haven’t gotten worse.”
As the White House changes more jurisdictions for those who should be detained in prison before trial, efforts will come to require cash bail nationwide. New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC have also enacted reforms that limit cash bail.
Illinois has fundamentally reformed its bail system more fundamentally than any other jurisdiction thanks to its pretrial equity law, which eliminated cash bail. Gov. JB Pritzker signed the ACT in 2022 and came into effect the following year.
Eliminating cash bail does not prevent Illinois from putting suspects in jail prior to trial. Currently, prosecutors must request the state of holding serious criminal suspects that are deemed dangerous or risk of flight. The defendant is released from prison while awaiting trial on a promise to appear before the court, rather than paying certain cash.
Why is the White House saying it needs cash bail?
It will require post-bond suspects to be a public safety issue, the president said he signed an executive order on August 25 targeting bail reform. Without it, he said the suspect would return to the streets and commit the crime.
“They kill people, they’re out,” Trump told reporters in the oval office. “We’re done with that.”
Critics of bail reform say that by eliminating it, it reduces the incentives for defendants to go to trial.
A Loyola University study of the impact of the law shows that the proportion of defendants who did not appear in court actually fell slightly from 25% to 23%.
Trump’s national order directs Attorney General Pam Bondy to submit a list of local and state jurisdictions with cashless bail policies and identify federal funds where it may “suspend or terminate.”
“To maintain order and public safety, individuals must be imprisoned with pending criminal charges or criminal history showing clear, continuing risks to society,” the order said.
What does the Illinois study show?
Researchers say the idea that dangerous offenders can walk freely is not actually happening on Illinois ground.
Don Sueton, a Loyola Chicago researcher who co-authored a study on the impact of Illinois bail reform, said it shows that crime rates for people published before trial have not changed.
Stemen also pointed out that more people are being charged with serious crimes in Illinois. Illinois law allows judges to jail people who have been charged with certain serious crimes, including violent crimes.
Stemen said that before bail reform, about 60% of defendants charged with serious crimes were released before trial after posting bonds. Currently, only about 50% of defendants charged with serious crimes have been announced before trial.
Loyola researchers said the biggest concern about Illinois bail reforms relates to what crimes are deemed detentionable.
Some judges and prosecutors are seeking more room in demanding defendants’ detention, Steutemen added that just because the crime is not considered to be unsevere under the Bail Reform Act does not mean that the defendant is not a threat to public safety or flight risk.
A more deliberative process
Experts say one of the most important implications of Illinois bail reform is the creation of a more deliberative system for jailing before trial.
According to Loyola’s investigation, the bond hearing ended in minutes before bail reform. When a judge places the accused in prison, the prosecutor must have a substantive argument about why he should be detained. Research shows that some hearings last for an hour.
“People should not be detained before trial unless they are convicted of a crime and there is a rather substantial debate about why they should be deprived of their freedom,” Stem said. “We as a society benefit that system in that we are just spending it on detention for those who need it. Not all people charged with crimes are a risk to public safety or the risk of flight.”
According to a Loyola investigation, some advocates and prosecutors reported that higher standards of detention hearings were being challenged.
Contributed by Bart Jansen.
