L.A. County bails on traditional cash bail

Los Angeles County’s Zero Bail Policy went into effect this week, allowing for those arrested on most non-violent misdemeanors and felonies to be cited and released without posting cash bail.

Twelve cities within L.A. County opposed the policy last Friday, with a previous lawsuit that occurred in May. Proponents of the policy believe L.A. County is headed in the right direction towards eradicating the cash bail system, while critics and county officials in opposition of the policy suggest that this will jeopardize public safety.

“It makes it so that you are in jail because you don’t have money,” said Janet Asante, media coordinator of Justice L.A. “If implemented correctly and cautiously, the policy can help close that gap.”

The bail system, better known as bail schedule, is a system designed for pretrial detention that sets a price on a person’s offense based on the crime of which they have been accused. Offices utilize this to determine how much a person’s bail is before trial. The average bail for a person in California starts at $50,000, five times the national medium bail, according to Mr Nice Gail Bail Bonds.

In May, Judge Lawrence Riff issued a preliminary injunction across L.A. County police and sheriff departments, calling for an end to the traditional cash bail system. Illinois is the first state to completely abolish bail as of September 2022, while New Jersey introduced a risk assessment that measures a released defendant’s probability of recidivism.

As this policy is a controversial effort that affects all L.A. county residents, critics have posed concerns about its effects on Angelenos’ general safety. Others believe that the cash bail system disproportionately affects Black and Brown communities.

As an interruption to the traditional cash bail system, the policy could be a step in the right direction for California. According to a Georgetown University report by the Mercatus Center, California is one of the most regulated states with nearly 400,000 regulatory restrictions in place, while the average state has only 135,000.

Janet Asante is a criminal justice reform activist for Justice L.A. who attended the hearing in support of L.A. Civil Civil Rights Corps and Public Justice, a non-profit legal advocacy organization in L.A. This case was “a historic preliminary injunction” according to a Public Justice Press Release. Asante shared that representatives of the twelve cities in L.A. County were “not present and declined to provide comment” during the hearing, as Judge Lawrence Riff offered defendants the space to push back against the Zero Bail policy. She feels that the cash bail system “essentially criminalizes poverty.”

“I was present in the courtroom during the civil case,” said Asante. “There were several opportunities where the judge specifically asked for these law enforcement groups to come in and advocate for whatever their objections are — they declined at every step along the way. They don’t actually care, but they have a vested interest in fear mongering and further backsliding us into more close races.”

Asante also urges critics to think about how the cash bail system affects working class communities. She also thinks that there are a lot of misconceptions about the policy, with critics lacking an understanding of the importance the policy holds for Black, Brown, low-income communities that typically cannot afford cash bail.

Director of the criminal justice program at UCLA School Of Law, Alicia Virani, urged critics to examine studies that prove released defendants are not a threat to public safety with the Zero Bail Policy.

“[Studies] show no negative impact in terms of crime rates in those jurisdictions that have changed their pretrial laws, policies, or practices,” she said.

Virani also noted that while the policy is impactful to disproportionately affected communities, it is too early to tell how this policy will affect criminal justice reform.

Atiana Duran, a manager and cash bail agent of Midnight Bail Bonds, is aware that the bail bonds industry “is often labeled as being predatory.” Duran is not solely concerned about how the policy will affect the bail bonds industry, she is also concerned for community safety.

“As an Angelino and as a member of a lower-income neighborhood, I’m fearful,” she said. “I’m fearful of repeat offenders. Cases don’t get filed for 30 days. So you could get cited and released today and then tomorrow get cited and released today for 30 days.”

Duran says that the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is “aiming to please a particular demographic” by putting the policy into effect, and is in complete opposition. Duran encourages proponents of the policy to think about how it impacts L.A. County and the judicial system. She also feels that the policy is a disservice to victims of crimes that are considered to be minor.

USC Gould School of Law recent Juris Doctor, Aris Mangasarian, is a formerly incarcerated double trojan. He understands the role that this policy plays during critical times.

During an era of social unrest, the mandate introduces pivotal points to an important matter.

The policy “enters the scene at a time when societal attitudes towards authority and the justice system are in flux, influenced by recent protests and movements advocating for systemic reform,” said Mangasarian.