Cash bail

United States

A common criticism of bail in the United States is that the likelihood of a person charged with an offence being released is significantly affected by their economic status and systemic racial bias. Once detained pretrial, these economically disadvantaged people have been shown to experience conditions in jails that improperly induce guilty pleas (whether or not they are factually or legally guilty). In response, in 2014 New Jersey and Alaska abolished cash bail for all but a limited number of court cases; and in 2023, Illinois abolished cash bail. Though the California legislature attempted to eliminate cash bail in 2018, this change was vetoed by California Proposition 25 in November 2020. In 2019, New York passed bail reform legislation that took effect on 1 January 2020, eliminating cash bail for many misdemeanor and non-violent felony charges. However, this law was later narrowed by the governor due to public pushback led by prosecutors and law enforcement officials.