bail reform
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Bail Reform Is About Criminal and Economic Justice
There are many injustices in our nation’s criminal-justice system. But one of the greatest injustices occurs before the accused are even convicted of a crime. It’s the application of our money-bail system, and it works like this: Let’s say a mother is accused of shoplifting at a department store and is arrested. A judge sets…
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Chicago, Cook County Judges Will Be Required to Set Affordable Bonds for Nondangerous Defendants
Timothy C. Evans, chief judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill., announced Monday that Cook County judges will be required to set affordable monetary bonds for defendants who do not pose a danger to the public. As of Sept. 18, judges will be prohibited from setting bond higher than what felony defendants can…
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Color of Change, Movement for Black Lives Join National Father’s Bail Out Day
Color of Change and the Movement for Black Lives are joining local grassroots organizers to reunite incarcerated black fathers with their families and highlight the inhumanity inherent in the cash bail system by bailing out black fathers who would otherwise spend their Father’s Day in jail because they cannot afford bail. “For June, we want…
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New No-Cash Bail System Allows Dozens of Low-Level Offenders to Be Released From Jail in Houston
Dozens of low-level offenders in Harris County, Texas, are being released from jail under a new no-cash bail system after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas upheld a District Court ruling that said it is fundamentally unfair to detain indigent people arrested for low-level offenses simply because they can’t afford to pay bail. Harris County…