San Francisco prosecutors will no longer ask judges for cash
bail as a condition for the pretrial detention of defendants, the District Attorney’s
Office announced Wednesday.
The announcement comes just weeks after District Attorney
Chesa Boudin took office, delivering on his promise to end cash bail.
Instead, whether defendants will have to remain incarcerated
will now be based on risk to public safety rather than how much money they can collect
to pay bail.
“For years I’ve been fighting to end this
discriminatory and unsafe approach to pretrial detention,” Boudin said in
a statement. “From this point forward, pretrial detention will be based on
public safety, not on wealth.”
According to Boudin’s office, the move could save taxpayers
money, as taxpayers nationwide spend about $38 million daily to jail people
awaiting trial.
The organization Human Rights Watch said pretrial release
for people who don’t pose a threat to public safety results in a more fair
court system and doesn’t result in more crime of missed court dates.
“For too long, prosecutors have used money bail and
pretrial incarceration as leverage to pressure people to plead guilty
regardless of actual guilt. Boudin’s policy favoring pretrial release is a
welcome change and will build the credibility of our courts,” said John
Raphling, Human Rights Watch senior researcher.
Boudin’s office said the elimination of cash bail will have
a positive impact on the city’s low-income communities and communities of color.
In San Francisco, African Americans pay more than $120 per capita per year in
non-refundable bail fees compared to $10 per capita per year for white
residents.
Back in 2016, former District Attorney George Gascon
introduced an algorithmic risk assessment tool to move the court toward a
system based on risk and not monetary bail. The tool has helped prosecutors
make more equitable decisions during the pretrial phase, preserving the
constitutional protection of presumed innocence, city prosecutors said.
Although former Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 10 into
law back in 2018, eliminating cash bail statewide, a referendum for the November
2020 ballot to overturn the law has suspended it.
Source: NBC Bay Area