Should California end cash bail? Ads begin for November ballot fight
Over the past two weeks, thousands have donated to post bail for people arrested while protesting police brutality. Those types of funds could be unnecessary come November.
A group of lawmakers and advocates Friday launched a statewide digital campaign encouraging Californians to vote yes on a bill-turned-ballot measure that would replace money bail with a risk assessment system.
One campaign video juxtaposes the cases of Stanford student Brock Turner, convicted of sexual assault on an unconscious woman, and Kenneth Humphrey, accused of robbing his neighbor of $5 and a bottle of cologne.
Money to post bail made a difference in how they were treated, the ad says: Turner was released after his arrest, while Humphrey logged 351 days in jail.
“The money bail industry operates like a cartel, where billion-dollar corporations use bail bondsmen and trigger-happy bounty hunters to profit off the backs of California’s poor and middle-class, while costing taxpayers millions,” said Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) said in a Friday press conference. “It’s time to end money bail and transition to a criminal justice system that values public safety over private wealth.”
The California Bail Agents Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment but has previously voiced its strong opposition to the “reckless law” that the organization says “puts millions of Californians unnecessarily in harm’s way.”
Instead of courts imposing monetary conditions for release, November’s ballot measure would create specialized local agencies to categorize defendants as low, medium and high risk. Supporters say that the switch would improve public safety and end a predatory procedure that criminalizes poverty.
Two years ago, Hertzberg pushed SB 10 through the Legislature. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill in August 2018. It was supposed to take effect the following October.
But a coalition called Californians Against the Reckless Bail Scheme put the law on hold by collecting more than 575,000 signatures in 70 days — more signatures than necessary, and in fewer days than required — to put SB 10 on the November 2020 ballot.
“You don’t eliminate an industry and expect those people to go down quietly,” David Quintana, a lobbyist for the California Bail Agents Association, said when the law originally passed. “Every single weapon in our arsenal will be fired.”
In California, that industry includes 122 bail agencies and more than 2,200 individual bail agents. They argue that bail improves public safety by keeping criminals off the streets and ensuring they show up in court.
According to a pretrial detention workgroup composed of judges from around the state, about two-thirds of California’s jail population hasn’t been convicted, but are awaiting trial in jail.
COVID-19 revealed just how quickly that could change, advocates say. When California eliminated bail for low-level crimes to reduce health risks for detainees, some jail populations shrank by 60 percent, said Jessica Bartholow, Policy Advocate for Western Center on Law & Poverty. Overall, the state jailed about one-third fewer people.
The Judicial Council of California rescinded the emergency rule on Wednesday. But advocates say that its effects support a permanent policy shift.
In a state where the annual tab for just one inmate is $81,000, that shift could save millions of dollars.
In Santa Clara County, Hertzberg said, a system similar to SB 10 reduced jail costs by $33 million over the course of six months and kept 1,400 defendants out of pretrial detention. He said ninety-five percent of them showed up in court.
This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 5:37 PM.