When the Court of Appeals of Maryland approved a new procedural rule this week — making it crystal clear that defendants should not be held in jail before trial simply because they can’t afford to get out — bail reform advocates rejoiced, praising the move as a major step toward overhaul of an inequitable system.
It isn’t.
It is common sense (and thankfully, now concrete) guidance reminding judicial officers how they should have been doing their jobs all along. That is: incarcerating defendants who are too dangerous to be released or who are serious flight risks and releasing those who aren’t under reasonable conditions to help ensure their return to court and avoidance of criminal activity.
For years, some judges and bail commissioners have put dollar figures on criminal charges as a matter of routine to "punish the defendant or to placate public opinion" — something now expressly forbidden in the language of the new rule. The change recognizes that cash conditions of release don’t promote public safety no matter how high, but they do result in low-level, poor offenders being stuck behind bars on bail amounts of as little as $50. For some, that means lost jobs, lost homes and lost relationships.
So now, judicial officers have been put on notice that cash bail shouldn’t be the default position for a person’s release but instead should be used sparingly as incentive to bring someone back to court — and only then in an amount the individual can afford. (Incidentally, a phone call reminder could also help bring people back to court.) And it appears to be working: A January report in Vice News claims that after two advisory letters with similar guidance were issued in October (one from Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and the other from Chief District Court Judge John P. Morrissey), the number of Maryland defendants released under financial conditions dropped 26 percent.
Baltimore Police on Thursday identified the 18-year-old man who was fatally shot by a detective during a foot pursuit Tuesday as Curtis Jamal Deal, of Pigtown.
They also released footage from the detective’s body camera that showed Deal raising a handgun in the direction of the officer prior to…
Baltimore Police on Thursday identified the 18-year-old man who was fatally shot by a detective during a foot pursuit Tuesday as Curtis Jamal Deal, of Pigtown.
They also released footage from the detective’s body camera that showed Deal raising a handgun in the direction of the officer prior to…
That’s a good thing, but don’t kid yourself into thinking it’s reform. There is actually one section of the new rule that should be contested because it appears to lower the standard for holding people without bail. And even then, there is a long way to go before Maryland’s pretrial release system can be considered just for both defendants and the taxpayers footing the bills. To get there, it will require action on the part of the legislature as well as the judiciary.
This new rule technically doesn’t take effect until July 1, which means there’s time for lawmakers to act this year. There’s a bill in the works that would eliminate cash bail entirely, as other jurisdictions have done to their benefit. We support the concept but recognize it has little chance of gaining momentum amid the pushback from the bail bonds industry.
Still, to facilitate safe releases of defendants before trial, lawmakers should ensure that pretrial service programs are implemented and funded in all of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions to help vet defendants and supervise them in the community. And they should again consider requiring the use of a uniform risk assessment tool to gauge a defendant’s danger level without relying so much on the objectivity of individual judicial officers. Relatively small investments in these areas can return big savings in reduced incarceration costs. St. Mary’s County, for example, spent $200,000 to implement a pretrial services program in late 2015 and saved $400,000 in the first year, Court of Appeals Judge Alan Wilner said in an interview.
Of course real bail reform will require a cultural shift in the way we think about criminal justice — and vigilance. Judges and bail commissioners are set to undergo rigorous training on the new rules, and their supervisors will be watching for compliance, Judge Wilner said.
We should all be watching. We’ve already seen what happens when no one is paying attention. We can’t let that happen again.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
